Gardens that promise peace
- Source: Global Times
- [08:58 July 30 2010]
- Comments
Eco Plane, a digital model of Columbia University's design. Photo: Courtesy of USC
By Nick Muzyczka
Creative Nature is a preview exhibition of works by 10 major universities and nine acclaimed professional landscape architects. The works in question are currently under construction in Xi'an as part of the city's 2011 World Horticultural Exposition, an event organizers believe will attract around 10 million visitors.
Each university and architect has been asked to design a garden which reflects the theme of the exposition, "Eternal Peace and Harmony between Nature and Mankind."
Some 10, 000 square meters of land have been set aside in Xi'an to feature designs that "accept the unnatural union of nature and mankind as a basis for new garden design," according to the Qingpu exhibition's curator Clare Jacobsen.
"It celebrates the possibilities that human intervention allows in redefining our surroundings. The projects featured in this exhibit offer a variety of responses to the call for a creative nature, showing the range of contemporary landscape discourse," her curatorial statement reads.
Ma Qingyun, dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California (USC) and co-curator of Creative Nature said: "Landscape is an all encompassing idea. It's everything under the sky. In China, we see that when the density of population is too great, a city becomes intolerable. Green space is lost."
New Technologies
As well as focusing on the major concerns of sustainability and regional identity, many designs utilize new technologies to push and pull nature. For example, Hong Kong University's Wind Poem acknowledges its windy site with a wind-swept plan and wind towers; and Universidad Torcuato Di Tella's Pampas Traces recreates the feelings of Argentinean wheat fields with Chinese plants lit by LED stalks.
Xu Bohua, one of the graduate students involved in designing the USC's garden, told the Global Times: "The purpose of this exhibition is to let more people preview and pay attention not only to this project but also to inspire contemplation of the future of the Chinese landscape. So we want people to feel natural; kind of culturally natural."
A real shame
It is a real shame, then, that the preview exhibition in Qingpu district consists of awkwardly presented information (concept diagrams/imaging diagrams) in a non-central setting. Those considering making the trip out from Shanghai should be aware that the main room of the teahouse displays only one piece; a long continuous poster that snakes around the room, giving details of each project in turn.
The graphic design of the poster is confusing, with information and text presented in an extremely scrappy, disorderly manner. Those expecting a visually striking display of progressive landscape architecture will be disappointed. When the Global Times visited the exhibition, an accompanying video wasn't working and didn't look as if it was likely to be resurrected.
Xu said that the exhibition's opening ceremony was very successful with "many local residents coming to the teahouse to find out more about the project." Opening hours are, however, currently unstable and those wishing to find out more should visit the USC School of Architecture's website at www.usc-aac.com/events/aac-2010/ creative-nature.
Given the enlightened nature of this project, which explores landscape design and urban planning in an artistically engaged and environmentally aware manner, it is unfortunate that Shanghai could not have been offered a more inspiring preview exhibition.
The project reflects issues that will become increasingly more important as all societies follow the path of environmental degradation and pollution. The question is an important one: how are we going to make the places where we live safely and beautifully?
Date: Until August 7
Venue: Qingpu Teahouse
Address: 612 Gongyuan Road, inside the Qushuiyuan Garden, Qingpu district
青浦区公园路612号曲水园内
Admission: Free
