‘Concept 2030’ Waste Water Treatment Plant, Yixing, China

The ‘Concept 2030’ Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) is much more than an ordinary sewage treatment facility. It provides many resources like clean water, organic and mineral fertilizer and biogas as well as ecological quality to its surroundings. The Concept WWTP forms the core and beating heart Infinity Park. The Concept WWTP consists of the water treatment units, the product extraction units and the Infinity Centre. The average capacity of the Concept WWTP is 20.000 m3 of waste water per day, from the nearby residential areas, enterprises and industries of Gaocheng District. The circular processes reflecting ecology, technology, modern agriculture and smart energy use make the Concept WWTP the heart of a well-functioning resource recycling landscape. A dense network of experience paths, education-, information centres and sport and leisure functions make Infinity Park a great attraction for various experts, local people, schools and tourists.

Important goal of the spatial layout of the Concept WWTP is to create a highly efficient land use by creating a compact and clearly organized plant. A second important goal is to give people, both experts and local people, maximal insight into the process of cleaning water, producing fertilizer, bio-energy and other products. The spatial concept of the WWTP has a clearly two-sided setup. A green landscaped outside and a high-tech inner WWTP-campus with the waste water treatment units and the product extraction units.

People can walk via the green public walkway up to the pre-treatment unit. This is the highest point where the water is pumped up into the system. The pre-treatment unit is designed as a viewing point that overlooks the Concept WWTP. From the viewing point people can enter the WWTP experience path. This is an elevated walkway that follows the route of the water. It runs above the bio-reactor unit and connects from the bio-reactor unit to the Infinity Centre where the tour ends at the exhibition hall. On the WWTP experience path, the route of the water can be experienced from the raw wastewater until the clean effluent that runs into the water garden. During the tour, there are information points where the treatment process is further explained.