New Bund Leisure Park, Shanghai, China

The retaining wall at the New Bund Park in Shanghai plays a supporting role compared to its surrounding landscaping - but it’s an important one. A rocky texture from the RECKLI SELECT series is used to draw attention to this important detail.

The New Bund Park stretches for 1,700 meters along the Huangpu River in Shanghai with green spaces, promenades, paths and public buildings. There is also a parking garage underneath the grounds, and the southern end of the park leads to the Shang Zuong Tunnel, an important underpass under the Huangpu River. 

Here, where the park and the tunnel meet, the architects at Agence Ter came up with the design for a long supporting wall. Agence Ter is a French firm with branches in Shanghai, Los Angeles and Karlsruhe that specializes in connecting urban living spaces with the landscape.

The wall is a relatively small detail of this park, but has a big impact. It creates a link between the park and the tunnel, forming a flowing transition from the green to the urban. 
Around 4,000 square meters of formliner were used to design the wall. RECKLI’s representative in China delivered the formliners from RECKLI’s SELECT range: the architects opted for 2/121 Cheyenne, a rocky texture. The texture was originally molded straight from a mountain, and is very popular with architects thanks to its natural, real look. 
 

Harriet Wong, Vice General Manager for RECKLI in China, noticed a high appreciation of custom architectural details among architects. “Supporting walls make up the bulk of our projects, even more than façades,” she says. When Wong talks about the design possibilities offered by exposed concrete, she is met by planners and architects with open ears: “aesthetic designs are very popular for walls”. Once it is ensured that the schedule, construction conditions and budget can be well coordinated, there’s usually nothing to stop a project from going ahead.

When it comes to budget, Wong can often soothe the client’s worries: the use of a formliner to create textured concrete does cost more than pouring simple exposed concrete elements, but in her eyes, it’s not just the optical effect that speaks for itself. RECKLI formliners are elastic and can be used up to 100 times once produced. “A supporting wall or a façade poured in situ using a formliner means low operating costs and a long service life,” says Wong. The formliners combine economic application and optically exceptional results, of which the New Bund Park in Shanghai is a shining example.