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Urbana silvam - Shenzhen International Flower Show

Shenzhen has an amazing history of growth of development, with a population increase from 250 000 to over 14 million in a 30 year period, we were fascinated as to the effect this could have on the landscape.

Intrigued by how a city has dealt with this level of growth yet maintained vibrancy and diversity, keeping the feeling of a community of urban villages we wanted to make a garden that celebrates Shenzhen past and present.

“Shenzhen could serve as a persuasive example of informal urbanization as a great asset to the planned city. Without urban villages, Shenzhen could not have grown so rapidly into a relatively stable and functioning megacity.”   Quote by Juan Du from The Shenzhen Effect, Weapons of Reason – Nov 24 2015.

The ground plane takes it’s form from the rice fields in the surrounding area, a reminder of Shenzhen’s historic past, areas of planting mixed with paths allowing people to be able to walk through the space. Water circulates from deeper pools to shallow pools (40cm drop in total). The larger spaces contain furniture for dining or sitting

Blocks from the ground plane are raised up vertically representing the development of the city, and the many skyscrapers that have risen.

Due to Shezhen’s location on the mouth of the Pearl River Delta, the port is one of the busiest in Southern China and the colours of the containers reflect the dynamic hustle and bustle of the port, these colours are applied to the vertical towers.

One side of the vertical structures is planted so that from a certain angle the whole garden looks as if it is just a strangely shaped mass of vegetation, yet from other angles it is completely different. A Water course flows from the higher pools at one end to the lower pools at the other.