A 41-hectare city park is planned as an all-season, international tourist destination in Tianjin, northern China. Friendship Park will be created with input from designers in Sino-Singapore and take inspiration from the city’s Gardens by the Bay.
Occupying a central location at Tianjin Eco-City on the Gu Dao Canal, the park celebrates the friendship between China and Singapore and embodies the principles of sustainability. The design vision by the landscape architect Grant Associates calls for interlocking contrasting landscapes and characteristics. Water will complement land, and nature will rub shoulders with the city. A phased masterplan proposes five glass biomes, housing tropical plant collections and water gardens. Other key elements include a wetland centre, an urban dock, play areas, event lawn and amphitheatre.
The project’s full name is Tianjin Sino-Singapore Friendship Park. The design team for the conservatories includes WilkinsonEyre Architects, environmental design consultant Atelier Ten and structural engineer Atelier One. Singapore’s National Parks Board, the original client behind Gardens by the Bay, is acting as advisor. Local partners include Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA).
“Friendship Park is a hugely exhilarating and ambitious project,” says Stefaan Lambreghts, associate at Grant Associates. “Our vision is to create a sustainable, playful and life enhancing landscape alongside inspiring architecture. Friendship Park will provide space for people of all ages to enjoy a rich variety of experiences with nature.”
Initiated in 2008, Tianjin Eco-City is a bilateral collaboration between China and Singapore. It aims to create a blueprint for the future development of sustainable cities. The basic infrastructure is complete and the first residents moved in back in 2012. When completed in around 2020, the Eco-City will house up to 350,000 people in a low-carbon, green environment that is the largest project of its kind in the world.