Zone 3: The Dotted Isles Lake and Eco-friendly Riprap

This zone is at the very east end of the project. It was previously a park constituted by a heavy concrete embankment which was built to protect the shoreline from erosion and to create a lake by trapping the seawater during the high tide. This park was certainly not satisfying, neither in ecological or aesthetical terms. The concrete embankment was boring and barren and the Lake was empty and bounded by rigid concrete shoreline. The regenerative design strategies include demolishing the concrete and replacing it with ecologically friendly riprap. A boardwalk is built to replace the hard pavement, and native ground cover is introduced to green the surface alongside the boardwalk. In addition, nine green islets are created in the middle of the lake to enrich the empty and boring water surface allowing birds to rest and nest.

The results of these ecological restoring designs are remarkably successful. The erosion of the shoreline has been effectively controlled, the degraded coastal wetland has been restored successfully, the boring and ecologically dead concrete embankment has been ecologically rehabilitated. A continuous boardwalk links various coastal plant communities, giving tourists an unforgettable educational and aesthetic experience; the bird museum becomes an integral part of the coastal landscape that breathes with the ocean and acts as a focal point along the linear ecological and scenic beach. This project demonstrates how landscape architects can incorporate ecology, engineering, innovative technique and design elements into an effective regenerative operation on a damaged landscape, and transform the degraded man–nature relationship into a sustainable and harmonious one.

Editor: Li Jing

Source: english.hebei.com.cn