Return of the Hill

Atelier Scale takes us into the Return of the Hill project, which is responsible for reconnecting the residents of a residential area in China with the surrounding mountainous landscape, by revitalizing the public space and an elevated trail.

Chongqing is a city born in the mountains. People in Chongqing have developed their own way of using lands with topography, and have created unique urban landscape and lifestyle. Atelier Scale has carried and extended this wisdom, in the landscape of the Hill Residence (named as the Waterfront City by the developer), developed by Chongqing Longfor.

Entrando a la comunidad desde la cresta de la colina / Entering the community from the hill ridge
Fotografía / Photography: Zhewei Su

There is an existing hill located in the project site. The original master plan by architects causes great damage to the natural topography of the site. Part of the hill will be completely leveled with a vertical retaining wall of 16.5 meter high, separating the other part of the hill and the site. Atelier Scale proposes a smoother transition from the hill to the site: 1. Revalue the site in order to follow existing ridge topography; 2. Restore an accessible connection between the site and adjacent nature; 3. Turn the returned hill into a community living room and other part of the hill into a public park.

Atelier Scale proposes a smoother transition from the hill to the site: revalue the site to follow the existing ridge topography, restore an accessible connection to the adjacent nature, and turn the hill into a community living room.

Sendero elevado / Elevated trail
Fotografía / Photography: Xi Tang

The Hill Residence occupies a total area of 10.7 ha, as large as the Bijin Park in Chongqing (13ha). The ridge corridor connecting the hill and community has a length of 170 m and a width of 40 m. It works as a connecting path as well as a micro eco-corridor. The micro biotope in the seasonal creek and Metasequoia along the hill trail serve as the Stepping Stones for birds and amphibians.

La estrategia de “regreso de la colina” / The “Hill Returning” strategy
Ilustración / Illustration: Atelier Scale

Based on a newly leveled site topography, we are able to create a more sustainable stormwater management system, which organizes storm water runoff effectively, reduces the flood pressure, and reuses water smartly. With collaboration of a storm water management expert in Seattle, we have come up with two main strategies to collect rainwater runoff: 1. The sloped seasonal creek beneath the elevated trail collects rainwater from the hill, which will be guided to the rain garden in the middle of the community; 2. Series of bio-swale network in front of unit entries guides rain water into the rain garden. 

Piscina de remo / Paddling pool
Fotografía / Photography: Qingshan Wu

Besides its high-performance function, the storm water management system works as an educational landscape, which provides residents opportunities to learn about how this natural system works. Educational illustration points are designed to integrate with this system, making sure the landscape will be understood by residents, especially children. 

Área de juegos / Playground
Fotografía / Photography: Atelier Scale

Water after purification is stored in a central water tank for reuse, such as a water feature and kids wading pool. Besides, 50% hard surface of the site are permeable pavers including pourable concrete, pourable brick and gravel.

Jardín de lluvia educativo / Educational rain garden
Fotografía / Photography: Xi Tang

The design language is “innovatively found” instead of “created”, by previous research and study. 1. Zig-zagging trails are designed to achieve slope-friendly accessibility; 2. Ridge decks are created for amphitheater and reading gardens with integration of planting terrace; 3. A bridge cross is created based on site topographic change for overlook above and shaded recreation beneath; 4. Topography between buildings is preserved with a designed seat terrace and bar table; 5. A playground is sided by a sloped creek with water interactions. Through introducing these designed spaces and local way of life, a new balance between the hill and community can be reached.

Vista aérea paisaje urbano / Aerial view urban landscape
Fotografía / Photography: Atelier Scale

The design and practice of the Hill Residence continue our thinking on locality and lifestyle of residential neighborhoods, at the same time, we begin to focus more on the contribution and impact of residential communities to urban ecology. As the Hill Residence is being used by residents in the future, we will be paying more attention to the usage of space and ecological performance of the community, with the help of POE.

Vista aérea / Aerial view
Fotografía / Photography: Zhewei Su

Equipo de diseño / Design Team: Huicheng Zhong, Di Wang, Liyang Chen, Shaozhong Yuan, Zhigang Liu, Jiahui Liang, Lihui Liu, Qimei Ling, Juan Lin, Bingxing Lin, Feimin Song, Jiangang Mao, Ziyan Zeng, Guowu Lv, Yufeng Xu

Página web / Website: http://www.scalescape.com/work/