The sky-high Gothic twin-tower spire stops in the verdant shade of the church square as far as the eye can see. As the "First Cathedral in the Far East", Xujiahui Catholic Church is surrounded by modern buildings and bustling commerce, overlooking the endless traffic on Caoxi North Road all day long, witnessing the flow of time in Xujiahui for a hundred years. Thanks to the newly completed square in front of the door with a wide view, the aura she exudes is quiet and calm.
Recently, the church square, which has been separated for a long time, was officially opened to the public. As the latest "urban living room" built by Xuhui District, the square fully integrates the original space, reshapes the public cultural space that the people are satisfied with and young people like, effectively strengthens the connection between the church and the church square and the surrounding plots, better shows the overall style of Xujiahui Church Square and its surroundings, and highlights the regional characteristics and cultural heritage.
01 Optimize the overall layout
Arrays of plane trees are planted on both sides of the central lawn of the square, creating a powerful visual corridor that emphasizes the architectural beauty and solemnity of the church. The tree array squares on both sides of the square axis bring important spatial use flexibility to users with small-scale and large-scale spatial variations. The dense canopy of plane trees can obscure other buildings on the outside of the site, and the branch point is high-pass through the perspective line, which can guide visitors to the entrance of the outer building. Whether horizontal or vertical, the tree array is at the golden section of the venue, and both the layout volume and the visual focus strive to reflect the sense of beauty, integrating functionality and artistry.
02 Attention to perfect details
In order to echo the mystery, mournfulness and sublimity expressed in the architecture of Xujiahui Church, the design of the square from the macroscopic layout to the details of the plants, from the lines to the elements, penetrates the towering and thin tone everywhere, complementing the church. The broad and deep sense of volume expresses the long historical precipitation and affinity tolerance of Xujiahui Church.
03Optimize public spaces
In the tree array set up like the "living room" of a number of rest areas, the rest area is equipped with wooden benches and flexible and cool fountains, even if the summer day here, under the shade of the trees, under the jump of the cool spring, do not feel hot; "living room" between the use of green isolation, the green belt planted in the spring flowering evergreen iris and can bloom throughout the summer endless summer hydrangeas; on the axis, designed a green and transparent lawn belt, visitors can take photos in this church as the background.
Historical and cultural landscape areas and excellent historical buildings carry urban memory, inherit the urban context, are extremely precious historical and cultural resources, and are an important part of the city's soft power. As an important part of the downtown area and the old city of Shanghai, Xuhui District has always been full of affection for the people, thoroughly implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech on inspecting Shanghai, conscientiously practiced the important concept of "people's city", shouldered the historical responsibility of inheriting the historical context, treated historical relics with a heart of cherishing and respect, developed the contemporary and realistic value of Shanghai culture in the construction of urban areas, and continued to do a good job in the protection and utilization of historical features and historical buildings, so as to better shape the charm of the city's soft power.