This studio, co-taught by Jiang Bin, Michael Kokora, Ren Chao, and Susanne Trumpf explored the core practices of landscape design in the context of the dynamic natural systems and contested territories along the coastal edge of Hong Kong Island. The studio’s origin was the Hong Kong Coastal Trail, a working proposal for restoring pedestrian and recreational trails to create a continuous path around the island initiated by Designing Hong Kong. Students worked with this initiative as a catalyst for additional strategies and interventions that amplified the connective, regenerative, community-focused ambitions of the existing plans.
Project 1 models by CHEANG Brian, TANG Chun Wah Richard, and WANG Chunyi
The semester was divided into two projects, each tackling urban landscape concerns at different scales. The first project examined the variety of landscape systems and communities that are crossed by the proposed trail right of way. After detailed spatial and material documentation, students isolated a user and designed an interface that augmented, adapted, or modified that user’s exchanges with the site. In a second project, students worked in groups on a larger section of the trail and used maps and sectional diagrams to illustrate the network of relationships, decisions, and agencies that underlay the coastal trail’s development. They developed strategies that structure the trail’s potential within the larger urban and ecological territory. Students’ final, individually developed proposals included landscape-led interventions augmenting the original trail planning to conserve critical habitat or improve water retention; expand the possibilities for green or multi-functional civil infrastructure; or support local communities through access, mobility, and revitalization projects.
Final project drawings by LIU Xin, CHEANG Brian, and TANG Chun Wah Richard
