Project Summary
The main landscape design concept for a major duty free shopping mall is to create a productive landscape that helps to purify and stores water. Typically, shopping mall would generate load of grey water due to the heavily use of visitors. As a major feature of the landscape, we provided a treated grey-water reservoir and set about helping to clean the water by filtering it through various aquatic plants. The reservoir, which consists of two ponds, now takes up roughly 22 per cent of the total landscape area. The treated grey water first runs through a pond containing a variety of aquatic plants, then travels 200 meters further before reaching a large pond stocked with water lilies. Water from the reservoir is then used to irrigate the rest of the big site. The plants in the reservoir are thriving because the grey water, even though it is treated and is clean once it passes through the natural filtration process, is still rich with plant nutrients. The vast growth of water lilies reflects the agricultural history of the site, where these graceful plants were once grown for their many edible parts. Thus the project not only creates a pleasurable landscape, but also combines a cultural element with the natural processes of water-plant filtration to conserve water.