Changzhou DaoSheng Center

Changzhou, Japan

Photo © PLATdesign

Landscape Architects: PLATdesign

Location: Changzhou, Japan
Year: 2012

This front garden for a commercial-residential complex faces onto a busy eight-lane street. A four-meter-tall mound planted densely with tall trees along the street side forms the skeleton of the garden. Sheltered by the trees and cut off from the surrounding hustle and bustle, the enclosed space encourages lingering. The garden includes a number of elements intended to increase movement between it and the commercial spaces and entice people into the shops: an arched promenade on the mound called the “Rainbow Bridge,” elements such as waterfalls and mist that take advantage of elevation changes and bring movement into the space, and cafes, for instance. In conventional commercial design the fact that shops and advertisements do not face directly onto the street would be considered negative, but here the cluster of buildings visible beyond the greenery symbolizes the Taoist, sustainable philosophy of the property’s owner. The unique layout in fact adds value to the commercial complex.