Floating Fields uses public space for an edible landscape and replicating the ecology that was once defining the Pearl River Delta. The fish ponds that were once the form of commerce are gone and in their place is dry land.
Thomas Chung has taken the site of the Dacheng Flour Mills that are no longer in use and noticed that the disused walls and pavement have signs of nature taking them over. He brought back the waterway that once ran alongside the factory and turned it into a group of filtering ponds. The rubble that had been left was broken up, and pathways were set up between ponds and made it so that it is possible to walk or sit meaning that there is a link between leisure and food production. It has further been developed so as the site also contains a library, learning resource centre that is multi-use, and a café/restaurant.
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Low tech aquaponics have been combined with a modern form of the dyke-pond system. Silkworms living inside a pavilion are busy spinning cocoons, and at the same time are being fed from mulberry trees. Fish are receiving their food from water cleansing plants and the food for the fish is coming from grass, while at the same time, micro-algae that has been cultivated is being used to produce food for fish and also purify the water.
100 children visited with parents and learned about the types of fish present and caught some of them. There was a tasting festival, and visitors learned about ecology and engagement is on-going.
Photos ©Thomas Chung / Story Via; archdaily.com