From A Discarded Military Base To A New Urban Park

The Design Competition of Downsview Park is an international design competition between 1999 and 2000 in Toronto. The competition had got wide international attention at one time. Downsview Park is being created on a former military airbase where nature system has been damaged through a series of exploitation. The objective of the design of Downsview Park was to improve the ecological condition by the way of landscape design, while developing a delightful playground for the recreational and cultural activities of Torontonians and all Canadians. So, Downsview Park project is meaningful whether as the reconstruction of abandoned land in city or as the design of urban park.The competition was conducted in two stages between 1999 and 2000. After the first stage of competition, five short-listed teams were invited to compete in the second stage of the competition. Finally, "TREE CITY" submitted by Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau was announced as the winning park design concept for Downsview Park.. .As the most ambitious project of urban park in recent decade in North America, Downsview Park conveys some information worthy of our thinking on the potential of landscape in urbanization, and provides us with some experiences and enlightenments on the reconstruction of abandoned land in city and the design of urban park. With the rapid development of economy and urbanization in China, We will face a lot of problems that appeared in developed countries in the construction of our city and landscape. The study of a current case like Downsview Park will contribute to the theory and practice of landscape architecture in our country.In this thesis, the author introduces the background of the design competition of Downsview Park at first, and then illustrates five entries respectively, and then gives an in-depth thinking and study on the information emerging from the competition and the entries. In the end, the author summarizes the enlightenments that Downsview Park competition brought us. The thesis consists of the following parts:1 Brief introduction of the park's lands and the design competition;2 Detailed introduction of five entries invited in the second stage of the competition;3 Analysis and appraisement of each entry;4 In-depth thinking and study on the idea and information in the design of Downsview Park;5 Based on the study above, the thesis summarizes the enlightenments that the design and construction of Downsview Park brought us, and conveys some new ideas and methods in current western landscape architecture. The author also hopes to provide some references and experiences through the study.