Chinese landscape design today

 

Although China has an outstanding garden culture and a glorious garden history that go back thousands of years, modern landscape design is still very young here. However, in many ways Chinese landscape architects today have far more possibilities than their colleagues abroad, owing to the vast number of landscape projects, and their size and speed of construction．

 

Faced with these unprecedented opportunities, Chinese landscape design is now drawing a lot of attention．Nevertheless, modern Chinese landscape design is still young and faces many challenges．At the beginning of the 20th century—when European and American landscape architects started to explore modern design the practice of laying out gardens was still undeveloped in China, except for a few concession parks planned by and for foreigners．And there was Certainly no theoretical research．

 

By the mid-20th century, when landscape design was going through a period of vigorous development in the lest, China had only just established university-level landscape training．At that time．the Soviet Union’s system of learning was regarded as the blueprint for the new China．in all fields．As in so many disciplines, this academic retro or semi—retro ideological trend remained for many years the basis of Chinese landscape education and practice．In subsequent decades, most designers and scholars were engaged in researching the traditional gardens, and most projects involved gardens and parks．The interpretation of traditional Chinese garden design theory and its approaches was the usual way of dealing with such sites．Landscaping meant little bridges and streams, rockeries and ponds, pavilions and terraces．Even today this view of landscaping is still commonly held, especially by administrators, and even some professionals find it difficult to step out of this vision．In the mid 1990s, the socioeconomic developments taking place were accompanied by rapid expansion of the landscape industry, but the theories and practice being taught were unable to keep up with these changes．As demand grew for landscaping projects pertaining to public life, nature and the city, China’s landscape architects were ill prepared in terms of theory and design know-how．

 

Chance

 

Today, Chinese landscape architects do have a chance to display their talents, but their position is not yet strong enough for them to reach their full potential．While Chinese landscape architects have many design opportunities that their foreign colleagues may envy, in many projects they encounter obstacles to realizing their ideas and plans．Sometimes the landscape architect’s role is that of ‘a mere pen in the client’s hand’. As clients pursue fast profits in politics and economics, far too little time is spent on the design of most Chinese landscape projects．Landscape architects work long hours, and therefore have 1ittle time for theoretical thinking and design innovation．Principal designers in nearly every office are usually responsible for a wide variety of projects at any one free, and consequently completing projects on schedule is almost impossible, not to mention guaranteeing the quality of their plans．

 

Improving

 

Of course, improving the level of Chinese landscape design does not depend solely on the ability of landscape architects．Objectively speaking, given the relatively low design standard of urban planners, architects, product designers and gardeners, it is hard to imagine that the landscape profession could prosper by the landscape architect’s efforts alone．Fortunately, , this situation is changing．The innless opportunities that exist in China today have placed its landscape architects in an unprecedented position．More and more people al’e。joining the discipline, and are gaining practical experience thus raising standards．All of which is contributing towards the profession’s general development．

 

In the late 1990s, some young Chinese landscape architects started to seek a modern landscape education in Europe, the United States and Japan, and on their return started working at the top universities or established their own landscape offices．In just a few years’ time, their position in the profession has become established and influential．Their abundant design practice, backed up by theoretical knowledge, has made them the backbone of China’s new generation of landscape architects．Their efforts are greatly improving the overall level of landscape design in this country, and are thus stimulating the development of the Chinese landscape profession． In the last few years, China’s system of state— owned design institutes—which goes back half a century—has started to crumble．Some of the old design institutes have been restructured to meet the needs of social change and a number of new landscape firms have been established．Offices doing practical research and experiments have created influential works and are gradually gaining recognition．The emergences of these landscaping firms has completely changed the design market’s former rigid system．And these developments have attracted architects, artists, horticulturists and other professionals to the landscape design field, bringing new ideas to enrich the design language here．

 

Tempting

 

Today, landscape architects and landscape firms from countries with a well developed landscape inductor find the enormous Chinese design market very tempting．A large number of foreign landscape companies or individuals are actively involved in China’s landscape design． Some of them have established branches here and have even gradually cornered part of the Chinese design market with their advanced ideas and excellent work．This has given both Chinese and foreign landscape architects the opportunity to communicate closely and compete with one another, all of which has contributed to the improvement of China’s landscape architects too.

 

Landscape architecture has now become a very popular discipline to major in at universities here and about 180 universities now offer the subject．Though the quality of the university)'training varies, landscape programmer at several prestigious universities are of a really high standard, enabling outstanding talents to be nurtured．Of course．more efforts will be needed to further the development of landscape design here．However, it cannot be disputed that Chinese design has started to attract attention from colleagues all over the world．Landscape design in China is transforming itself from traditional to modern, and we hope this transformation will proceed rapidly and auspiciously．

 

Wang Xiangrong(1963 China)is professor and vice—dean of the School of Landscape Architecture at the Beijing Forestry University, the chief landscape architect of Atelier DYJG and editor in chief of the Chinese Magazine of Landscape Architecture．He received a BLA from Tongji University in 1983, an MLA from Beijing Forestry University in 1986, and gained his Ph D from the School of Urban and Landscape Planning at Kassel University, Germany, in 1995

 

Houtan Park, Shanghai

Programe：Transformation of a steel factory and a shipyard into a waterfront park．

Designer：Yu Kongjian (Turenscape)

Commissioned by：Expo 20lO Shanghai, China

Area：18 ha

Design：2007-2009

Implementation period：2008-2009

 

Built on the former industrial site of a steel factory and a shipyard, Houtan Park is part of Expo 2010 Shanghai．The key idea behind the project was to create a green Expo, transforming a unique space and thus making this exhibition an unforgettable event．After the World Fair it is destined to become a permanent public waterfront park．According to the designer, the overall design strategy for transforming and restoring Houtan park includes the creation of a wetland as an ecological flood control, the salvaging of industrial structures and materials．and urban agriculture．Restoring the ecology and showing local culture in an aesthetically pleasing way are the main focus of the project．

 

Running through the middle of the park, a linearly constructed wetland-1.7km long and 5-30m wide has been designed to create a regenerated waterfront for treating the contaminated water from the Huangpu River．The wetland also serves as a buffer between the levees for floods occurring once every 20 and 1000 years．The meandering valley along the wetland creates a series of ‘thresholds’ providing visual interest and a refuge from the World Fair’s bustle, with possibilities for recreation, education and research．Additionally．the former concrete floodwall has been replaced by a more habitat friendly riprap, allowing native plants to grow along the riverbank while protecting it from eroslon.

 

In Houtan park, the local culture’s identity is displayed by the site’s industrial atmosphere and the urban．agricultural landscape．The renovation of industrial structures and materials emphasizes this These in situ industrial icons have been transformed into hanging gardens and belvederes Terraces negotiate the 3—5 meter difference between the water’s edge and the road, besides slowing down the run-off towards the stream within the wetlands-The designer states that such terraces are reminiscent of Shanghai’s agricultures ral heritage prior to the area’s industrial development in the mid-20th century．The ecologically recovered landscape, urban agriculture and industrial remnants are all interconnected by a network of paths, where visitors can learn about the green infrastructure within a lushly restored recreational area．This pedestrian network has been composed of a main loop, from which a series of perpendicular roads Cut through the wetlands and a multitude of footpaths lead across the terraces Groves Of bamboo and Chinese redwoods form screens along the paths and subdivide the various spaces Such tree．Surrounded enclosures are used to exhibit both modern art and the industrial relics found on the site.

 

All in all, Houtan Park demonstrates a living system in which the ecological infrastructure can be of service to both society and nature re in a variety of ways, for instance through the new ecological water treatment and flood control methods．The park’s unique productive landscape evokes memories of the past as well as pointing towards a future ecological civilization．And it of course also pays homage to a new aesthetics based on low maintenance and a high-performance landscape•

 

Meng Xiaoying