Wellness Water Town in Fengyi Bay•Sino-French Agri-Tech Park

Fengyi Bay • Sino-French Agri-Tech Park is located beside Jialing River in Nanchong, Sichuan. Supported by the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference, it's a key demonstration project for Sino-French cooperation in modern agriculture, a national-level pilot demonstration area of ecological civilization in Jialing River Basin, and a provincial, national model for rural revitalization. Fengyi Bay, where the Sino-French Agri-Tech Park sits, was originally a saline-alkali wasteland that was submerged by river water every year. Through building dams, diverting water, creating wetlands and developing agriculture, Sichuan Port and Shipping Investment Group Co., Ltd. turned this wasteland into "treasure", which has been helping local people get rid of poverty and live a better life.

The Wellness Water Town is an important service facility within the Sino-French Agricultural Technology Park. Taking "waterfront natural growth" and "primitive rural life" as the starting points, the design attempts to create an architectural cluster that grows naturally like local waterfront villages, and to reproduce the long-lost sustainable, primitive rural lifestyle.

The water town occupies a land area of about 150 mu (100,000㎡ or so), and water runs throughout it. The design fully respects the wetland water system and landform of the site, and provides superior close-to-water experiences from different dimensions through introducing water into the town. Meanwhile, water tour and characteristic waterfront commercial activities are connected seamlessly, to create brand new water industries and consumption modes.

Considering the hot summer in the water town, the design puts forwards the "floor cooling" concept. Through combining multiple strategies such as stilt floor and underground tunnel ventilation, the design reduces the outdoor temperature by 4 to 5 degrees Celsius, and greatly improves energy efficiency and tourists' experiences, hence realizing sustainable development.

The overall design of the water town conforms to the principle of integrating Chinese and French elements and blending the new and old. The streets and lanes are winding, which provide varying views as visitors move. The buildings utilize plain materials, and show a naturally-growing posture rooted in a pure, aesthetic rural setting. The design breaks the conventional "flat" landscape pattern, but focuses on creating three-dimensional rural landscapes.