A FLOWING PARK AND PUBLIC SPACE
11 May 2023
A newly built commercial and residential area in Ningbo, China, has a striking public space that engages the community in fun collaborative activities.
FROM THE ARCHITECTS: Magma Flow is a stimulating urban activation of a pedestrian street from a newly built commercial and residential area in the port city of Ningbo, the second-most populous city in Zhejiang Province, China.
One of the most characteristic features of this place is the presence of grand stairs that serve as pedestrian access to the open second floor of the commercial street. In order to activate this pedestrian junction and turn it into an eventful and eye-catching public space, colonizing the stairs extending and detaching the proposal from the horizontal plane of the floor was early identified as a key action to gain visibility, and from which the rest of the proposal could be articulated. 
Thus, what before were just simple stairs to access the second floor, is now a volcano of public activity by inserting several amphitheaters at different levels, providing the stairs with platforms for hanging out and resting; shading structures mimicking the violent eruptive process, while providing shadow to the new resting areas; and even some slides resembling the erupted lava going down the hill. 
To continue with the narrative on the rest of the space, a huge stain of erupted magma razes the ground level with colour and playful functions for kids and adults alike, generating a very eye-catching multifunctional plaza right at the pedestrian junction. The flow of magma creates an intense and vivid circuit of events and spaces arising by its side.
Among the functions that we can find on the magma plaza, there are several seatings and resting areas located under shadowing canopies, as well as mahjong and tic-tac-toe tables and a lounge area for adults. For the joy and entertainment of kids, we equipped the space with a swing pergola, seesaws, slides, hills and bumps, tunnels, punching bags and challenging obstacles along the circuit. 
Altogether, the proposal creates an incandescent public space that acts as an urban attractor and entertainment hotspot within the new commercial and residential development.
Architects | 100 Architects
Photographs | Rex Zou
Design Team | Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Mónica Páez, Lara Broglio, Ponyo Zhao, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Hayley Huang, Michelle Aldora, Jango Zhang, Yuntong Liu.
Project Management | Jenny Fan, Nicholas Lv, Eva Jiang.
Client | Vanke China Co., Ltd. (Ningbo Division)
City | Ningbo
Country | China
Images Rex Zhou via ArchDaily
