Hyperlane is a 2.4km multi-level linear sky park, youth culture and lifestyle destination at the heart of the Sichuan Conservatory Of Music University in Chengdu. It establishes a vibrant and fun youth, music and life orientated linear space, linking the local transportation hub with the university community and campus in Chengdu. The Urban Gallery, the Initial phase of the project has recently opened.
城市灵感空间
The Urban Gallery
The Urban Gallery was the first phase of the hyperlane project anda sociality orientated, pocket place for the community to come together. Defined by the simple notion of ‘community and connection’, the Hyperlane Urban Social Gallery is a bold, vibrant youth-oriented point of identity that reflects the artistic and creative culture of the district.
With the singular unifying expression of ”Community”, the layered circular form playfully morphs, transforms and adapts to the varying functions and experiences of the place; from the urban promenade along the street edge, tothe water carpet which acts as a threshold arrival scene to the space, to the performance gallery and the community terrace and the small social seating pods nestled intimately within the planting.
The resulting urban gallery consists of both a curatable and a permanent programme. It is a social experiential place and point of community connection that supports the youthful creative arts and music culture.
Designed pre-COVID-19, with construction completing shortly after lockdown, the socially defined space provides perfect response to social distancing with an urban space in accordance with local guidelines.
The Promenade consists of a network of connective walkways planters and multidirectional social seating that combined acts as a fringe and buffer to the main road set within a layer of trees.
The "Water Carpet", is designed to allow for visual connectivity whilst creating an interactive & mesmerizing sense of arrival. The combination of shallow water, playful edges, lighting displays, textural contrast and planting offer a visual and physical theatrical experience and journey, between the urban promenade and the performance gallery. A place for people of all ages to play at the water's edge or relax on the seating nodes in shade of the trees.
The project is defined with a signature tree, one that is native (indigenous) and held strong meaning and relation to thenatural environment. Phoebe Zhennan (桢楠) is an endemic species to Chengdu and the province of Sichuan, and one that is registered on the endangered species list due to habitat loss. The hyperlane presented a wonderful opportunity to introduce this at-risk species on mass in the urban environment. It’s an amazing and unique species with a beautiful evergreen canopy, so ideal to use in close proximity to the water bodies with its limited leaf litter. With the potential to grow up to 30m in height it creates a dense shade at ground level for people to gather and rest from the strong summer temperatures.
The hyperlane leads the movement of a new consciousness within the Chinese development industry, one that stems from a clear understating that long term social, environmental and economic success of a development isn’t achieved by short term commercial gains, but with attention to socially and environmentally orientated systems, programme and experiences that add meaningful value, experience and delight to the lives of the community.
The site was formally a series of derelict walled in spaces used for unplanned parking and offered zero social or environmental value to the area or community. The perimeter walls resulted in the student accommodation area being physically and socially disconnected from the university campus, with only a small number of narrow degraded alleyways allowing access.
The student accommodation area offered more ideas to the community’s current lifestyle with an environment full of vibrant visual art. The tarmac streets were brought to life with colourful graphic painting and the shops, stores and outside dinning was compacted in small scale clusters and pockets.
The landscape design is founded on the principle of creating a balanced system that responds to both the humanistic and environmental needs of the project.
面向潮流青年社区群体的项目长达2.4公里连续景观长廊提供了一系列社交、演艺活动、创意文化、互动艺术装置。
A series of youth community-oriented networks, connections, social spaces, performance, and creative arts progammes and activities interplay along the entire 2.4 km.
The vision for the project was to bring nature and natural systems into the heart of the design, so planting species selected are predominantly local and look to encourage insects, birds and wildlife to the urban corridor.
Each layer of the design responds to the adjacent demographic, providing both recreational space, connective network, cultural and exhibition areas and place for people, to connect , gather and simply hang out.
Client: Chengdu Xinding
Landscape Architecture: ASPECT Studios
Principle: Stephen Buckle, Studio Director of ASPECT Studios
Landscape Design Team: Yan Luo, Sam Xu, Alex Cunanan de Dios, Morey Zhou, Iris Di
Architecture: Aedas
Principle: Dr. Andy Wen, Global Design Principle of Aedas
Lighting: BPI Lighting Design
LDI: BW Landscape Design
Contractor: Chengdu First Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. of CDCEG
Photography: Lu Bing
Rendering: ASPECT Studios, Aedas
Year: 2020