Imagemakers Design & Consulting Ltd, and its China partners, are recipients of a significant new International Design Award for involvement with the Yanghu Wetland Discovery Centre in Changsha, Hunan Province, China. The ‘i-ding International Design Award’ is the first comprehensive design award in China and the organising committee has a bold vision for it to become one of the most respected, creative and comprehensive design awards in the world. The award spans many different categories of design from graphics to landscaping and interior design to architecture. The award given to Imagemakers and its partners was for Excellence in the design of a public space.
The newly-created Yanghu Wetland Park offers Changsha residents a valuable green space in the heart of their city and opportunities for informal recreation and learning.
Imagemakers was invited by Changsha Pilot Investment Holding Co. Ltd. to design the visitor centre exhibition and a series of thought-provoking sculptural features around the site. The site’s landscape design and visitor centre architecture work as one, communicating the idea of harmony being restored between people and nature and of nature being welcomed back into modern city life. Open, unglazed elevations, rounded contours and natural curved stone walls, create a seamless blend of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’. The architectural theme of ‘bringing the outside in’ inspired our use of natural shapes and materials throughout the exhibition spaces, and the concept of having a ‘river-like’ ramped walkway winding through the building. The preciousness of water, for nature and for human well-being, is a central exhibition theme as visitors learn how wetland creation contributes to a more sustainable city and are themselves inspired to conserve natural resources.
Imagemakers’ concepts for the exhibition spaces and sculptures were rendered beautifully by our design partner Anda Exhibition Co. Ltd. and brought to life through the quality construction and technical delivery expertise of Mei Ging Creative Digital Co. Ltd. who were responsible for the fabrication.
Of course the design of a public space is only as good as the use for which it is intended, and the receptivity of the public who use it. Feedback from the Yanghu Wetland Company who manages the site suggests that in both respects the project has been a huge success and one that is increasingly being emulated in other wetland projects in China.
From an initial entry of nearly 500 projects, the judging panel, comprising a mix of high profile designers from across China, Taiwan, Singapore and Australia, selected 64 award winners.
