Renovation Of Peace Parks Gate 6 / Atelier Z+

Architects: Atelier Z+
Area: 960 m²
Year: 2022
Photographs: Min Yang
Construction General Contractor: Shanghai Gardening-Landscaping Construction Co., Ltd
Lead Designer: Bin Zhang
Design Team: Yanlin Jin, Zhaoming Chen, Ruoyue Chen, Shenghao Yang
Clients: Shanghai Hongkou District Greening Management Affairs Center
Collaborators: Landscape Design Institute of Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd (Construction Drawing Design）
City: Hong Kou Qu
Country: China

Renovation of Peace Parks Gate 6 by Atelier Z+ in Hong Kou Qu, Shanghai revitalizes a historically significant urban park entrance. Completed in 2022, the project emphasizes urban openness while preserving historical elements. The design features a new entrance plaza with a flowing water garden, dry-laid rubble stone walls, and cor-ten steel park plaques. The renovation transforms the area into a 24-hour accessible pocket park, enhancing its legacy and creating a welcoming space for citizens.

Renovation of peace parks gate 6 / atelier z+

Peace Park, originally established in 1958 as “Tilan Park” and renamed the following year, is a historically significant urban park in northeast Shanghai. It is the third largest park within the central city’s Inner-Ring Road.

The entrance, built in 1996, featured a centrally positioned hollowed-out iron gate facing away from the tree-lined park avenue. An entrance plaza was in front, with a guardhouse to the north and a wall connecting to an adjacent building to the south, featuring a plaque engraved with “Peace Park.” The former gate had horizontally extended brown granite stone-faced walls, retaining the spatial layout from its initial construction period.

The renovation of the Tianbao Road entrance focuses on urban openness while preserving the city’s memories and the park’s history. The design maintains the significant spatial layout of the entrance, characterized by the interplay between the park plaque wall and the towering plane trees, creating a welcoming front plaza. In-situ reconstruction uses same-color dry-laid rubble stone walls, complemented by cor-ten steel plate park plaques with matching fonts. A flowing water feature garden is introduced within an L-shaped recess between the plaque wall and the adjacent building to the south, with cascading water accentuating the park entrance’s continuity.

The former guardhouse on the north side was dismantled to release more space. Several sections of rubble stone retaining walls, arranged in varying heights and horizontal extensions, work with the plaque wall to redefine the entrance plaza, which gradually narrows from the street to the park. Two plane trees were retained, and Acer serratus was replanted between the walls, merging harmoniously with the green space on the north side. Tree basins were formed by blank spaces between brick patterned stone pavements. The gaps between the rubble stone walls transition seamlessly with stone-paved openings and a gently sloping green area on the north side. The pavement finish near the interface shifts from a burnished finish to a naturally undulating surface carved on-site.

The renovated Tianbao Road entrance removes the traditional gate, creating a city node space defined by the plaque wall. This transformation turns the entrance plaza into a 24-hour accessible pocket park known as “Yuanyuan” (Wall Garden), offering a rich sense of depth and accessibility to citizens.