In the past three decades, with rapid urbanization, many large train stations and high-speed rail stations have been built up in Chinese cities, surrounded by overpasses and huge plazas. The stations cut off urban fabric, and the surrounding areas are usually separated from nearby urban environment. The renewal of Jiaxing train station is a design practice of our partial landscape upgrading and partial new landscape design of a transportation hub in the old downtown and its surrounding areas, which is typical in China's urbanization and regional urban renewal. The challenge lies in the engulfing and fragmentation of urban public space by transportation hubs, broken and passive industrial land, large parking lots, etc. The low-end industrial mix and chaotic traffic around the station have been detrimental to the area that was once the city center. Given the complexity, we worked closely with design consultants across disciplines. The redesigned Jiaxing train station park is an urban oasis of 35.4 hectares encompassing the nearly 70-year-old People's Park, the North Plaza of forest, the landscape to the south of the station and the future park integrated with the TOD complex.

It transforms public municipal buildings and transportation hubs into integrated quality urban public space, retaining the unique culture of Jiaxing old town, combining the protection and upgrading of the old park with the newly built high-tech ecological future park, and maximizes green coverage, becoming a "platform connecting and traveling between the past and future". Passengers and citizens can not only experience and recall the history and culture of Jiaxing, but also admire the imagination of the future park. It is a symbol of the city, and enjoyed by the people, bringing back the vitality of the old town. This sets the standard for how Chinese cities can better preserve and build contemporary urban transit public spaces.

The train station park has three parts: people’s park in the north symbolizing the past, forest plaza in the middle representing the present, and green roof park in the south implying the future. To create a forest train station is our main design concept. Dense forest in the People’s park extends to the forest plaza and finally to the southern green-roof park.

The People’s Park is the oldest public park of Jiaxing with 9 traditional pavilions and more than 50 of over 100-year old preserved trees. The design team recreates people’s park with great respect of all preserved elements and carefully design new things that perfectly blend with the old.

To make ground level more pedestrian friendly for passengers and visitors, entrances of train station are creatively located on B1 level to create a 34 hectares park above. Sunken courtyards connect the park with the new train station, while underground civic roads link the underground areas to bus terminals as well as a tramway, metro, car parking and taxi stands. With a long axis and great waterfall, there are 160 Zelkova trees on the forest plaza providing shade for passengers and seamlessly merge with the people’s park.

To make buildings look like floating traditional circular jades, the design team creates a large green-roof park for the southern part of the train station which is a mixed-use complex with hotel, retails, offices, tram and bus station. The green-roof park allows visitor to experience the unique undulating landform and overlook busy traffic of bullet trains.