the sinking gardens landscape intervention in XiXi national wetland park

the sinking gardens landscape intervention in XiXi national wetland parkmr. hog, mr. he and mr. shen on the floating topographyimage © nikola bojic

almost three times larger then new york city’s central park, XiXi national wetland park is hangzhou’s newest green driver of massive urban development. 
seeking to renegotiate public space in the face of a contemporary building boom, nikola bojic and alan waxman peeled back layers of the site, revealing past communities now gone. historical mapping research opens a dialogue between displaced families and the designers, revealing an invisible ecology of erased life.

‘sinking gardens’, the landscape intervention adopts old boats found in XiXi as mediators between past and present. the vessels emerge from the land, carrying earth and grass into the water to form a new topography that can be walked and explored. each addition in the composition honors one family that lived for generations in XiXi. on opening day, family fathers hong, zhang and shen inscribed their names on the boats, positioning their recovered history at the forefront of china’s contemporary green development.

image © alan waxman

 the sinking gardensimage © nikola bojic

the sinking gardens, winterimage © ida blazicko

image © ida blazicko

the sinking gardens, site plan drawing © alan waxman, nikola bojic

the sinking gardens, archaeological site, section. drawing © alan waxman

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