First prize of international competition:

In 2007, in the international competition of Tangshan Earthquake Memorial Park sponsored by "the Architectural Society of China", the design team led by Yuan Ye, a doctoral candidate of Tsinghua University, presented a  proposal - "Memorial Road" which stood out among 276 proposals from 17 countries and won the first prize, and was selected as the implementation plan by Tangshan municipal government. The park was built in September 2008, and has become one of the most important Memorial landscape and architectural work of disaster theme in Tangshan City and even in China.

Design purpose:

The design ofTangshan Earthquake Memorial Park fully embodies the purpose of "reverence for nature, care for life, exploration of science and recall of history". Through the extremely simple design method, it creates a strong commemorative space environment, faithfully records the disaster and the 240000 lives lost, In memory of the dead, provides future generations with the memorial and reflection, and also gives the living courage and hope. Remember the past and face the future.

Planning concept

The design maximizes the potential advantages of the site, separating the pool from the forest through a "Memorial Road" running through the maximum distance of the north and south of the site and leading to the earthquake Ruins and a memorial wall with a total length of nearly 400 meters. The new axis and the original linear element of the site, the abandoned railway track damaged and twisted by earthquake force, run through the north-south and east-west directions of the base respectively, thus dividing the whole site into four parts: Ruins square area, water area, forest area and gravel area. The intersection of the two axes is located at the edge of the Ruins square. The Earthquake Memorial museum and earthquake science museum are set up in the core position, becoming the end of the Memorial Road and the starting point of the Ruins square.

Memorial Wall

As the gravestone of the world's largest earthquake victims, the names of 240000 victims are engraved on the polished black granite wall in a "homogenized" way; the memorial wall is not only the guide of the "road of remembrance", but also the spiritual aggregation. The black granite wall engraved with names "cuts" the whole site, strengthens the characteristics of the depth direction of the site, properly defines the location of the main entrance, and gives the memorial activities of the park a clear sense of direction, while maintaining the original structural characteristics and integrity of thesite to the maximum extent. The memorial wall has a huge scale that dominates the whole park space. The highly polished black granite wall reflects the sky, the land, the surrounding scenery and the human figures. It is integrated with the gold names of 240000 victims, which gives people a strong shock.

The road of remembrance

This is a complete spatial sequence with the starting and turning.

The entrance of the park is a slowly sinking square. When people go down, their mood will become low and calm, which indicates the beginning of an unusual Memorial Road. A ginkgo tree is planted in the corner of the sunken square, which is quite meaningful in the open square, and also implies the connection with the paulownia tree on the water surface at the end of the Memorial Road. Turning around the low wall engraved with "Tangshan earthquake memorial park", a ruins square appears. The debris is like a fragment of the earthquake scene, presenting the theme of the earthquake in a direct but abstract way. In the past, there is a black gray concrete wall with bronze plate engraved with commemorative inscriptions. The blank space on the big side has cleared away the impurities in people's emotions, and has turned its attention to the memorial wall on the north side. Along the huge memorial wall, the open space of pool on the west side will gradually appear in front of you (due to the settlement at the entrance, people's realization is below the water surface elevation, when people step up along the Memorial Road, the line of sight will rise, and the water surface will slowly appear); on the other side, the woods will repeatedly appear through the slit between the walls, with a sense of oppression The gradual opening of the space began to slowly release, until the site square, reached a climax.

Meaningful landscape

At the end of the Memorial Road and wall is the Ruins square, which shows the whole picture of the earthquake Ruins. The underground Earthquake memorial and science museum are built on the west side of the square. There is a section of railway track bent by the earthquake on the water surface, extending westward and gradually disappearing into the water. Visitors can follow it to the center of the water. The two trees left on the water connect the two ends of the rail visually, and form a space-time contrast with the ginkgo trees planted alone in the square at the entrance. When you turn from Memorial Road to square and look back, a broad scene with memorial wall as the boundary is formed, and the background is the earthquake Ruins. All this makes people feel the destructive power of the earthquake directly, at the same time, they will reflect on the relationship between life and nature.

The huge shallow pool on the west side of the memorial wall shows the relationship with the sky and has a strong reflective surface. It forms a strong theme with the sky and the man-made space in the middle, that is, the relationship between the ground, human beings and nature. The design of the water surface can give people a feeling that they can't reach and express the distance between the dead and the living. The black pebbles covered under the water make the shallow pool produce unfathomable effect, while the stones scattered on the water remind people of the fate of individual life between life and death, and form a contrast with the names of the dead on the memorial wall.

The design of "tree" plays an important role in the expression of memorial. The two rows of tall and neat poplar trees behind the memorial wall are like the guards of life, while the whole forest has the meaning of "tree burial" and endless life; the strong and powerful paulownia trees reserved by the water side are like the totem of life, symbolizing the power of life, while the solitary trees at the end of the railway track have the meaning of "This side and the other side". The tree array on the roof of the underground memorial hall is more symbolic, implying the tenacity of life and infinite hope for the future.

Protection of Ruins

As for the national key cultural relic, the former locomotive and rolling stock factory earthquake ruins, we adopt the "immobility" strategy to keep the ruins intact, to maximize the preservation of the buildings and landscape before the earthquake, to protect the original site, and to make the real historical presentation; in addition to preserving the ruins left before the earthquake as completely as possible, we think that we should also selectively retain the traces of construction after the earthquake Including plant landscape, buildings, facilities and roads. Therefore, the original texture of the base was preserved, and new landscape elements were "planted" on the old site. "New" and "old" have their own distinct characteristics here. They coexist harmoniously.

Space environment of long term value

Since the completion of Tangshan earthquake memorial park in 2008, numerous Tangshan citizens come here to commemorate the July 28th anniversary, Tomb Sweeping Day, Spring Festival and other important festivals every year. It has become the most important earthquake memorial place and spiritual sustenance of Tangshan people. Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Wen Jiabao and many other  state leaders and a large number of celebrities at home and abroad have come here for visiting and  commemoration. In 2010, the movie " After Shock" directed by famous director Feng Xiaogang was set in the earthquake memorial park, and the core landscape of the park was taken as the end scene of the film. The meaningful picture left a deep impression on the Chinese people. In June 2011, the park was listed in the list of "National Red Tourism classic scenic spots". In July 2011, the park was awarded the title of "national science popularization education demonstration base for earthquake prevention and disaster reduction" by China Seismological Bureau.

Tangshan earthquake memorial park, with its extremely simple planning structure, pure and strong visual space effect, ingenious and meaningful landscape design, low-key, restrained and giving way to the architectural treatment of the ruin and memorial landscape, has contributed to a memorial space environment with artistic, humanistic spirit and long-term social value, and has also realizes the ultimate ideal that architects serve the society with design。