The Polyculture Armature relocates the displaced landscapes of Shenzhen’s recent past, for the productivity and resilience of its near future.  The Central Axis will become a man-made urban ecosystem for the next generation of human—nature urbanism. Bookended between the Wetland to the North and the Waterfront to the South, the Armature will be a microcosm of interspecies life. A base grid of 25x25m, taken from the standard size of the local fish pond and dykes, underlies the logic of the Polyculture Armature.

​

Beginning with an extension of the wetlands, a braided system of canals will feed a landscape of mulberry dykes and fish ponds. Flowing south, the braided canals will coalesce to form a primary channel that will carry water throughout the axis, feeding a familial system of productive ponds, ornamental pools, and on to a system of terraced wetlands, that will clean the water before it enters a natural swimming pool at the Waterfront. Divided into three sections, the productive landscape will become the primary organizer of the site, over which complimentary circulation and program is embedded.