Greentown, Cháo Míng Project (Hangzhou, China)Gardens created

Ueyakato Landscape was commissioned by Greentown China to create gardens in the heart of Hangzhou (a former capital of China) for the company's "Cháo Míng" building complex. We landscaped the complex's main facility, a space for holding guest receptions and business discussions for residential property sales, and the neighboring property's model house.

The main garden is based on the theme of Fukurokuju, the Japanese god of happiness, prosperity, and longevity. It expresses the hope that visitors will nurture domestic lives based upon these three virtues. In a dramatic display of three-dimensional beauty, its design configures scenic stones, trees, and stone lanterns into "tray landscapes," a traditional art form in both China and Japan. On the other hand, the space has a practical side too; there's a white sea of sand featuring cut stones arranged in contrasting arc patterns where reception events and traditional dance performances can be held.

Famous Japanese garden stones (mainly Kibune, Maguro, and Sajigawa stones) were shipped from Japan and then arranged as scenery displaying the beautiful designs created by nature. By contrast, the model house's pond shore edging uses stones found by searching along local rivers. To allow changing colors to be enjoyed in each season, cherry blossoms, weeping maples, Japanese maples, red plum blossoms, crepe myrtles, and zelkovas were planted.

In sum, the "Cháo Míng" building complex gardens painstakingly balance beauty with practicality while also harmonizing classically Japanese materials with the familiarly local. The result is scenery blending the best from two imperial capitals (Hangzhou and Kyoto) into a single majestic landscape.