A seemingly clichéd question: How composition and materiality work together to transform a historical garden into an elegant, evocative and yet vivid urban landscape that would be experienced by the public?
If you had walked around Hengshan Road six years ago, you probably would not have noticed a century-old church. The main hall was covered by trees that had not been maintained for a long time – even those who lived nearby knew little about it.
When we started the project, we found that the church’s setting contains layers from multiple periods, and its patterns and features are extremely rich and complex. However, the renovation of the historical main hall, which preceded the garden renovation with a forest of scaffolding, was a big challenge to us. The lack of historical materials, such as original construction documents, also made the project more difficult. Through the innovative application of 3D laser scanning technologies, we obtained a point cloud model with millimeter-level accuracy. Combined with on-site surveys and consultation with architectural restoration experts, we developed a comprehensive mapping database including the 3D point cloud model, existing condition plan, and existing vegetation catalogue, which is a solid foundation of site analysis, strategy making, spatial & detail design, and construction.
With a detailed study of the church’s history, the concept REVEAL THE HIDDEN GEM appeared in our minds – aiming to bring the valuable historical heritage back into public view, allowing visitors to establish an emotional connection with what they see and experience in the site. The goals of the renovation with a historical perspective are:
1) Maintaining the character of the church at every period of development;
2) Recovering its overall features of openness since its construction completion in the 1920s;
3) Subtly and implicitly echoing multiple historical and cultural elements of the site.
Openness, intimacy, elegance and cultural identity were four main features to be crafted.
Openness: Over the past century, the setting around the building has been “unintentionally” constructed many times, rising by 40-50cm, burying the main hall’s plinth. While ensuring the lawn elevation remained unchanged, the ground around the building was lowered by about 40cm, and a continuous seating wall was constructed to take advantage of that grading change. This not only enhances the building’s heritage and integrity but also meets the church’s request for additional rest facilities. The lawn was preserved and enlarged, and the overly dense shrubs were cleared to create an open, transparent foreground that reveals the historical façade. To address disputes caused by branches falling from the property, we also pruned the preserved trees, significantly improving the openness and visibility of the site.
Intimacy: If the keyword for lawn is openness, then a natural healing garden and a three-walled courtyard, at a smaller scale, are for intimacy. Lusher planting, with more layers and accessible seating walls, further strengthens the sense of friendliness and pleasantness, encouraging the public to enter and linger. We aimed to create a strong spatial contrast between the expansive openness of the lawn and the lush intimacy of the two gardens, thereby enriching the overall spatial hierarchy of the historical landscape.
Elegance: We believe decency is from harmony between building and the setting, thus the material palette of the hardscape elements, including paving, seating walls, feature walls, and the flagpole, are all finished in warm tones, echoing the iconic red brick of on-site historical buildings. All the seatings, prototyped as “\”, establish a visual dialogue with the “/”-shaped motif of the main hall’s window and plinth. All design approaches are aimed at harmony, unity and neatness.
Cultural Identity: The featured designs in the garden draw on metaphors and allusions to Christian and biblical imagery. The main path around the main hall is called “Ring of Light”. Its paving prototype is the Christian cross, laid in an interlaced pattern with brownish-red pavers. We place square LED spotlights at joints of the pavers, and hope that when the path is lighted, visitors will be informed where the light comes from.
Upon entering the site, visitors encounter a scripture wall in the three-walled courtyard. A bilingual verse from the Bible, chosen for its thematic resonance with the act of ‘entering’, is engraved here. This creates a subtle dialogue between the design and the user’s movement, welcoming them both physically and metaphorically.
We have preserved a fig tree, and introduced a pomegranate in the natural healing garden – both local species mentioned in the Bible – and paired each with a corresponding biblical verse. These verses, along with the names of the plants, are engraved on signage placed near the trees. It is our hope that as visitors walk through the garden, they may feel a sense of familiarity – whether through the recognition of the plants, their blooming scenarios, the scriptural words, or some deeper resonance.
The renovation of the historical garden and building at the Community Church in Shanghai was completed in 2023. We look forward to the changes of time; the pruned trees will sprout anew, the vines will burst into bloom, and every plant will shine with the elegant and esteemed hall. And let’s hope love, freedom, and peace under the meteor-like lights on the preserved pine tree, in an ordinary yet singular day.
Historic Landscape Renovation of Community Church in Shanghai
Location: Hengshan Lu, Shanghai, China
Design Team: Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd., Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University
Client: Shanghai Community Church
Project Manager: Hong jun Zhou
Site History Research: Chen Yang
Lead Landscape Designer: Hui Lin
Schematic Design & Detailed Design: Guan lan Liu, Yunyi Wu, Zhi ru Wang, Min yue Zou
Construction Design: Yi bo Gu (Drainage and Grading), Pu Xia (Electrical), Xi Chen (Structural), Zheng jun Sha & Jue ying Song (landscape)
Design Consultant: Hai Bian, Peng feng Chen
Constructor: Shanghai Xu fang Group
Construction Manager: Hui Chen, Da lin Shi
Photographer: IAM photography
Architect of the Historical Building Renovation: Shanghai Construction Decoration (Group) Design Co., Ltd.
