AILA award win for Kunshan Demonstration Park

REALMstudios’ development of the Kunshan Demonstration Park was recognised at the AILA National Awards this weekend, with the project receiving an Award of Excellence in the International category.

Kunshan Demonstration Park represents a departure from conventional urban water management, instead seeking a strategic approach of integrated urban water management in a contemporary cultural city framework.

The project reimagines a neglected and polluted infrastructure corridor/canal as an ecological park, engaging water and the community.

Acknowledgment from the Jury:

"The project reconstructs ecological communities alongside recreation, bringing exercise and play together with a “waterscape” that is overlaid by richly textured, quilt-like plantings. The project exemplifies skill in bringing materiality and grading together to craft the land–water interface. The focus on clean water and the development process has enriched the lives of local inhabitants, who have incorporated the parkland into their routines. The project illustrates a harmonious outcome in which plantings and landscape are choreographed to celebrate community and locally productive lands, while also showcasing a range of ecologically based water-treatment technologies."

A big thank you to all our collaborators in delivering this awarded project!