By Design - Winter 2014

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20 | By Design
YINTAI HONGYE GC
“The project has
achieved significant
air and water quality
improvements and
the golf course is far
more strategically
and visually exciting
than before”
Location:
Beijing City, China
Architect:
Rick Robbins, ASGCA and
Brian Lussier, ASGCA
Robbins & Associates International
Project summary:
To address air quality and water
management issues at Yintai
Hongye GC, Rick Robbins, ASGCA
developed a unified design program
to improve both the environment
and quality of golf.
Partners:
Jacklin Seed
Rain Bird Irrigation
Profile Products
When hired to renovate the
Yinhong #6 course at Yintai
Hongye GC near Beijing,
China, Robbins & Associates were faced
with the challenge of how best to achieve
the quality of golf course expected
by the owner while also fulfilling
environmental goals for the city.
The site had originally been home to
several dozen stone mining factories,
which had been closed for over 30
years. The barren land was the source
of the biggest sand storms in west
Beijing, causing significant air quality
concerns, and it was prone to flooding
from the nearby Yong Ding River.
The Beijing city government had
granted the owner use of the land for
golf under the terms that it would
help address these issues, and make
productive use of what had become a
dumping site.
“The owner understood that
the course that had initially been
designed and built by himself and
the contractor did not meet the
government’s environmental goals or
his own expectations for playability,”
says Rick Robbins, ASGCA. “The
solution was to let us coordinate all
aspects of the course redesign and
construction.
“Working with the owner and his
staff throughout the construction
period with numerous site visits,
we were able to implement a
coordinated program for water use
reduction, flood detention and air
quality improvements by irrigation
system changes, grassing selections,
landscape modifications and staff
training,” Robbins explains. “At the
same time, reconstruction of all 18
greens complexes and new bunkering
has given the course an entirely
different appearance.”
The scale of the project was huge:
backfilling 300,000 cubic meters of
trash and 540,000 cu m of earthworks
to restore river banks; 30 lakes collect
rainwater with 600,000 cu m detention;
160,000 local species were planted on
80 hectares of landscape area; and dust
in Beijing has been reduced by 100,000
tons per year.
Purified wastewater usage has been
introduced, as has a new solar lighting
system and underground heating
system, and a wildlife habitat has been
restored, for wild rabbits and chickens,
hedgehogs and swans.
“The project has achieved significant
air and water quality improvements
and the golf course is far more
strategically and visually exciting than
before,” adds Robbins.
Image: © 2014 Dave Sansom