Beijing is a city without a strong sense of the natural environment. Yet, in a city of the scale and density of Beijing, creating a space for nature is extremely important, because it is the natural that refreshes the spirit.

Five Petal Square is an urban park that covers an entire city block. Designed as a modern park in a modern city, the square connects to the various layers of the city: to the commercial and residential, to the transport, the cultural and the natural. By situating the retail, exhibition and car parking below the park and the office space above ground, the design brings together modern Chinese culture with a contemporary interpretation of traditional Chinese landscape and gardens.

The park contains a forest, a gorge, a valley, rocky cliffs and a plain that leads to a river. A range of planting has been used – conifers to define the edge of the park and remain green throughout winter, deciduous trees and fruit trees, as well as grasses which change colour and flower with the passing of the seasons. Within the forest we have created a ‘five petal’ public space to cater for a range of events and gatherings.