Wetland Matrix for Living

The issue of growing elderly population is critical in China. This student project called Wetland Matrix for Living creatively solves the problem together with sustainability. The project is not only beautiful in its architecture form, but is also beautiful in its creation of these elders' new lifestyle that this student designs. This project's attempt to change and to better people's lifestyle through architecture is successful in that it also enhances the natural environment by cleaning the semi-polluted water.

The site Lu Wei Qiao is located in the Guangdon-Foshan region of China, which is suffering from aging population. There are currently over 10 million residents aged over 60 with around 200,000 suffering from dementia. Yet, the area lacks retirement homes, consisting only 245 in the region to support them. As a result, these elderly population is left idle as their only child lives in the urban cities to work. The project sees opportunity in the site being next to the river to provide retirement home if the semi-polluted river can be cleaned.

The project pays keen attention to psychological health of the elderly population as many of these elders suffer from dementia. This attention includes design awareness for interactive spaces, which will give the sense of contact and emotional support; active lifestyle, which will give the sense of self-needing and societal contribution; and environment, which will give the sense of ownership and connectivity to nature.

The design proposal is a "living machine system," which is a design of a community consisting a large communal greenhouse. Here, biological waste can be processed by fish and plants, which are maintained by the residents. The resulting outflow is filtered through individual residential gardens providing nutrients for gardens before it is discharged into the surrounding wetlands or farms. Landscape and rich aquatic life sprouts as a result in the wetlands, and recycled water and fishing gives back to the residents. The end product is a beautiful landscaped residential physically and visually blending into the natural surroundings.

 Great!