Wave Hills

Wave Hills

Wave Hills

In Oct. 2021, the TLS design scheme “Wave Hills” was announced the winner of the International Design Competition for Sanjianghui Levee in Hangzhou.

The Qiantang River has been famous throughout Chinese history for the powerful and variable wave types that occur within Hangzhou due to tidal confluence. TLS identifies five wave types found locally – Rough Wave, Tracing Wave, Crossing Wave, Washed Wave, and Layered Wave and transforms them each into creative topographies for the shoreline environment – hence the name, Wave Hills. Starting from five brushstrokes based on the waves, the design inscribes five distinct characters and groupings of social, cultural, and ecological programs.

These new topographies that vary dramatically from the engineered quality of levee planning and go well beyond the minimum for current flood requirements in both height and width – extending the life of the investment. This would further buttress and protect the levee from scouring and erosion and unexpected disastrous flooding events that now occur frequently worldwide. The topography is constructed using excavated material from nearby developments. There are multiple benefits to the wave-generated topo – – deflecting the impact of strong waves and protecting the levee core, to creating ecological diversity, tide pool and wetland pockets, to inducing easy transition for birds, fish, and mammals.