The site’s history is central to the design. Once a rocky coastal headland with cultivated gardens and kāinga, the area has been progressively reshaped through reclamation and institutional development. Rather than treating the plaza as a flat forecourt, the design reintroduces landform and spatial sequencing to reconnect visitors with the site’s pre-colonial identity. Terraces and level changes step down toward the building entry, making movement through the space feel like an encounter with the ground itself rather than simply an approach to architecture. A continuous datum line, together with the conceptual framework of Tūāpapa (grounded, foundational) and Tuanui (elevated, cosmic), establishes a spatial hierarchy that binds landscape and building into a unified civic composition.

What distinguishes Heke Rua is the depth of Boffa Miskell’s co-design process with mana whenua and cultural design leadership from Tīhei Ltd. Fortnightly collaboration with Taranaki Whānui Te Āti Awa and the wider consultant team shaped not only the visual language of the project, but also its conceptual structure, material expression and spatial experience. This was not a matter of applying cultural motifs to a finished design; mātauranga Māori informed the landscape from the outset, making visible the histories of Pipitea and acknowledging the Archives’ own role as kaitiaki of records relating to Māori-Crown land transfer. The result is a civic space that carries historical weight while remaining open, generous and welcoming in day-to-day use.

The formal language of the landscape draws from both coastal geomorphology and cultivated ground. Timber terraces evoke rocky outcrops, undulating surfaces recall kūmara mounds, and textured wind screens reference layers of shell and earth found in midden deposits. Smaller sheltered spaces take cues from traditional fencing used to protect crops. Together, these elements create a plaza that is legible as public infrastructure but rich in narrative and sensory detail. The ground plane does more than organise movement and occupation; it communicates the site’s former ecologies and patterns of habitation through form, texture and sequence.

The project’s civic success lies in its flexibility. Heke Rua Plaza functions as an everyday public space while also accommodating school groups, tours and small-scale community or cultural events. Central open areas allow for gathering and movement, while edges and terraces provide more intimate zones for respite. Integrated seating, robust basalt paving and carefully resolved timber elements give the space a durable, human-scaled character suited to intensive public use. The design brief called for a “living space” that could support rest, social connection and exchange between the Archives Building and the city; the completed plaza achieves this without sacrificing clarity or operational resilience.

Although climate response is not the project’s only story, it is an important one, particularly in ‘Windy Wellington’. Wind was a dominant performance driver, with the site shaped by a challenging wind tunnel context and consent requirements around comfort and safety. Rather than relying on blunt barriers, the design integrates permeable sculptural screens and planting to mitigate wind while maintaining sightlines, permeability and CPTED principles. These interventions create sheltered microclimates across the plaza, enabling the space to function comfortably for everyday use without closing it down visually or spatially. In this way, climate mitigation is absorbed into the civic and cultural language of the site rather than treated as a separate technical overlay.

The planting strategy balances ecological restoration with exposure and structural constraint. Native coastal headland species were selected for wind tolerance, habitat value and their ability to reintroduce local colours, textures and seasonal cues into a highly urbanised precinct. Species such as pōhutukawa, kōwhai, tī kōuka and harakeke help restore displaced ecology while supporting manu (birds) through nectar, fruit and shelter. Because much of the plaza sits above the building’s basement podium, soil depths and planting locations had to be carefully calibrated. Removable planters and lightweight build-ups are used where needed and larger planting placed where on-grade conditions allowed.

That podium condition also helped drive some of the project’s technical innovation. The landscape effectively “floats” above a waterproof membrane through pedestal systems, minimal fixings and modular planting elements that protect the structure below while managing drainage, weight and maintenance access. At the same time, the plaza had to be fully coordinated with a base-isolated building designed for significant seismic movement. Stairs at the building interface play both experiential and technical roles: they reinforce the design’s deliberate descent into the land while also allowing the building’s movement system to operate during seismic events. Delivered through a shared BIM environment, this level of integration ensured that landscape, architecture, structure and services worked together as a single civic system.

Heke Rua Archives Plaza is a modestly scaled project, but one that works hard: as threshold and destination, as public room and cultural narrative, and as a contemporary expression of Pipitea within the heart of Wellington.

Heke Rua Archives Plaza

Location: Greater Wellington, New Zealand

Client: Department of Internal Affairs

Landscape Architect: Boffa Miskell
Project team: Megan Walker, Daryl Baldwin

Collaborators:
Tīhei Ltd
Warren and Mahoney
Aurecon
LT McGuinness
Israel Birch

Images: Courtesy of Boffa Miskell
Text: Boffa Miskell

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Rihui Greenland, located in Shanghai’s Xuhui District, is a revitalized 6,000-square-meter green space within the Rihui Xincun community. Originally built in the 1950s as a workers’ housing area, Rihui Xincun now houses 300,000 residents, many of whom are older people. What was once a neglected grove with tangled roots and dark pathways has been transformed into a vibrant, inclusive sanctuary called The Commoners’ Grove. This project blends nature and community, creating a space that respects its natural heritage while fostering a sense of belonging for all.

Design Philosophy

The heart of The Commoners’ Grove lies in two key ideas: preserving every tree and welcoming every resident. The design balances nature and human needs, focusing on accessibility, safety, and connections across generations. It turns the grove into a peaceful retreat where seniors can relax, families can spend time together, and the environment can flourish. This approach shows a deep commitment to caring for people, ensuring the space remains a lasting haven for everyone.

Key Features

The design includes several thoughtful elements:

• Tree Preservation: Elevated walkways and eco-friendly concrete protect the trees’ fragile roots, keeping the grove’s ecosystem healthy for the future.
• Accessibility for All: Gentle ramps replace stairs, making the space easy to navigate for wheelchairs and walkers. Seating has increased tenfold, providing plenty of places to rest and chat. A 600-meter walking loop offers seniors a safe, scenic route for exercise.
• Sustainable Lighting: Solar-powered lights, called the Photosynthetic Ring, sit on slim pillars above the garage slab. They charge during the day and glow softly at night, ensuring safety without harming the trees.
• Smart Use of Space: The entrance combines a bus shelter, restroom, and lounge, adding convenience without taking away green space. Viewing platforms and rest areas fit naturally among the trees, keeping the grove calm and open.

Impact on Community and Environment

The Commoners’ Grove brings people together. Older residents enjoy a quiet place to rest, children have room to play, and families strengthen their bonds. Beyond its social role, the grove protects biodiversity by saving mature trees, improving air quality, and offering a habitat for wildlife in the city. The focus on accessibility-ramps, seats, and lighting-means older people can move through the space comfortably and with dignity. Once a forgotten spot, it’s now a lively hub that fills the community with pride.

Why It Matters

This project shows how design can respect both nature and people. By saving its trees and putting residents first, The Commoners’ Grove becomes a timeless refuge where everyone feels at home. It’s a model for renewing urban spaces in aging neighborhoods, proving that even small areas can have a big impact on the environment, society, and culture.

In summary, The Commoners’ Grove transforms a neglected grove into a cherished community treasure, blending eco-friendly design with human care to create a space that serves all generations.

Rihui Greenland: The Commoners’ Grove

Designer Credit: Lab D+H Shanghai + Shanghai Jiaotong University
Tree protection consultant: Shanghai Botanical Garden Greening Engineering Co., Ltd.
Structural Consultant: XinY Structural Consultants Ltd
Architects: BRACE ARCH STUDIO
Lighting Consultant: TUNGSTEN-STUDIO

Photography: IAM

Text: Lab D+H Shanghai

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Every landscape architect needs training, whether a graduate or a Principal. Training at a landscape architecture practice can happen in different settings and formats. Your practice can provide training through informal sessions or formal classes you develop, but most importantly, it needs to happen regularly.

Providing training improves employee retention, builds competency, reduces risk, and can speed up development, especially for graduate team members. It requires an investment by the practice, but it can greatly improve the team’s expertise and skills, improving design outcomes. Training can also provide direction and pathways for career development and assist with retaining team members as part of the design practice.

Some landscape professional organisations require continual professional development (CPD) to maintain registration and provide formal classes or conferences to achieve the required points. This is one of the easiest ways for your practice to provide training; however, you can also provide in-house training.

In-House Training

There are several options to develop in-house training, including:

Modules using expert knowledge to develop sessions on a particular broad topic that are provided as sit-down sessions that can become a module within a larger program. Your in-house experts can develop this training on topics such as practice standards, design process, sustainable design, planting design, construction technology, etc.

Outside Experts work with an expert to develop training sessions that are held once or twice a year. This usually focuses on a particular expertise, including plant identification, horticulture, fabrication, project management, contracts, risk management, procurement, etc. These can also be rewarding for the experts, as they get to share their knowledge and interact with different levels of expertise and experience within your practice. Developing this training can require investment, but it will also draw on expert knowledge and experience.

Known as a masterclass, lunch & learn, or Ask Me Anything (AMA), it is a more informal way to undertake training, where a more senior or knowledgeable person or people provide insights and knowledge about their area of expertise in a regular one-on-one or group session. The format is more question-and-answer, with a few points (photos, plans, etc.) and then open-ended questions to start the session; then it becomes more about knowledge-sharing that draws on experience through examples and stories rather than a formal presentation.

Design Crits provide some of the best opportunities for team members or whole practices to learn about analysis, narrative, process, and design. Analysing, discussing, marking up, prototyping, and working through design problems can help team members develop their problem-solving and presentation skills.

Mentor Workshops (Senior with one-on-one or group) reviewing design, process, or management techniques (client/consultant) provide opportunities to share and learn about landscape practice along with professional development.

Site or Study Tours are a great way to explore your practice’s work or your competitors’ work and learn how things come together during construction or in the final built form. They can also help people understand the stories of how a project came together, the design narrative, and the wins and losses during the project. This also provides the opportunity to learn about coordination with clients, consultants, suppliers and contractors. You can also undertake informal Post-Occupancy Evaluations or Construction Reviews. Some of your suppliers (nurseries, site furniture suppliers, etc.) may also allow tours, which can also provide opportunities to learn about products

Vendor Presentations facilitated by a product supplier (furniture, lighting, hardscape, nursery, etc.) can provide valuable training on a particular product or range. However, it is also important to ask the vendor for industry insights beyond their product, such as how to specify products or current legislative changes affecting them.

Off-site sessions or Seminars can involve the team leaving the office and going to a hotel seminar room, education facility or other place that is not the office, full of distractions. These can also involve an overnight stay, including team building and socialising so team members can get to know each other.

You may have someone in your practice organise and run the sessions or opt for an external facilitator so all team members can focus on the session information and learning.

External & Specialised Training

External training options include landscape conferences, seminars, and online webinars. Some of the various options include:

External workshops allow trainees to improve a particular skill (BIM, Graphic Design, Engineering, Project Management, new software); these are often structured or multi-day events. It may be beneficial to have one person take the course before sending multiple people, as they can be too general for designers or too specific for another profession.

Continuing Professional Development can include conferences or seminars that are hosted by a professional organisation. These can provide more focused training for landscape architects on planting, construction, etc. They also offer the opportunity to see new products and services if they include an expo or trade show.

Conferences also let your team network and gain insights into current business conditions, market changes, and how competitors are developing.

Training should be an integral part of your team’s development and is best tracked by competency level (graduate to senior to associate) to allow for more transparency around career development. Also, incorporate your professional organisation’s continuing professional development framework (Part 1, registration, etc.) to help team members achieve professional recognition.

Developing a training program for your practice does not require a large budget and tracking software. You can develop your own training using the resources and expertise within your practice. To start, conduct a simple survey of your team members to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and expertise. Use the results to identify development needs and prioritise accordingly. Then develop a training program based on in-house knowledge and identify where you need to fill gaps with external experts or external training. Then you can start developing a central knowledge base, libraries, and training sessions across practice areas (design, production, construction, management, etc.).

Whether you provide in-house or external training, it is an important part of every practice and requires strategy and planning to ensure it adds value, happens regularly, and improves your team’s skills and expertise.

Article written by Damian Holmes – Founder and Editor of World Landscape Architecture

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Site furniture is often selected from established collections, and for good reason. Standard products are designed, engineered, tested, and manufactured to perform reliably across a wide range of environments. But sometimes a project calls for a specific dimension, material, configuration, or visual expression – or an element that simply doesn’t exist yet.

That’s when product selection can become collaboration.

The question shifts from Which product fits this project? to What does this project require, and how can the right solution be developed?

The answer isn’t always a new product. Sometimes an existing design can be adapted to meet a project’s particular requirements. Other times, the design intent calls for something entirely new. Knowing which approach makes sense—and involving the manufacturer early enough to influence the process—can have a significant impact on what is ultimately possible.

Two projects show how differently that can play out. At the University of Guelph, Lang Plaza, completed in 2021, transformed a vehicular-focused roundabout in front of the university’s historic Macdonald Hall into a pedestrian-focused social space.

The design team, including Kendall Flower of KFLA and architects Barry Bryan Associates selected Maglin‘s modular Ogden Collection curved benches to create seating clusters throughout the plaza. The collection provided the right framework for the seating design, but two project-specific requirements meant the standard product needed to evolve.

The University of Guelph’s design standards called for Accoya wood for campus site furnishings. The landscape architecture team wanted slightly deeper seating, requiring modifications to the cantilever bench slats and seat pans.

Rather than move to an entirely different product, the design and project team worked with Maglin‘s sales and engineering to determine how the existing Ogden benches could be adapted. Maglin sourced the non-standard Accoya material and incorporated it into the benches, while engineering developed the production and assembly drawings required for the modified seat components.

The result retained the character and functionality of the Ogden Collection while responding to the specific requirements of the project.

At the other end of the spectrum is Battery Playscape at The Battery in New York City.

Opened in 2021, the playscape transformed a long-underused corner of the park at the southern tip of Manhattan into a richly layered play environment for children and families. Developed by the Battery Conservancy in partnership with the City of New York, with architecture by BKSK Architects and landscape architecture by Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners PLLC, the project drew inspiration from its waterfront setting, including the harbor, sky, and geology of Lower Manhattan.

Among the site’s most recognizable elements are a series of large custom shade structures shaped like clouds.

The concept was deliberately different from a conventional canopy. The structures needed to provide meaningful shade while reading as part of the landscape rather than as furniture placed on top of it. They needed to be visually compelling from across the park and from beneath, while also performing as permanent public infrastructure in an exposed coastal environment.

Turning the concept into a buildable structure meant bringing Maglin in early, well before the design was finalized. Early conversations focused on feasibility: span and height, wind exposure, snow and ice loading, coastal durability, finish systems, budget, and installation requirements. From there, geometry, engineering, and fabrication developed together.

The irregular cloud forms created structural challenges a conventional shade structure wouldn’t face, so Maglin‘s engineering team modeled the entire assembly in three dimensions and ran it through finite element analysis for wind, snow, and ice loading. Galvanized steel formed the structural framework; mirrored stainless-steel panels reflected the sky and water, reinforcing the impression that the clouds were floating above the playscape.

Rather than fabricate the structures in the field, Maglin engineered the clouds as transportable components and assembled and test-fitted them in house, verifying dimensions, connections, and alignment before shipment and protecting the finished stainless-steel surfaces during field installation.

By the time the structures arrived at The Battery, much of the problem-solving had already happened.

Different scale, different material, same underlying lesson: the most successful custom projects rarely move in a straight line from sketch to finished product.

They involve revisions, testing, engineering decisions, and adjustments. The earlier those conversations start, the more room there is to solve problems while the design is still flexible.

For landscape architects considering a nonstandard site-furniture solution, the first conversation with a manufacturer can be surprisingly simple: Which design choices are fixed, and which are flexible? What environmental conditions will the product need to withstand? What are the budget and schedule?

Maglin’s experience across standard, modified, and custom production can help answer those questions before a project becomes locked into a particular approach.

The goal is finding the level of customization that preserves the design intent, meets the project’s functional and environmental requirements, and fits the realities of budget and schedule.

Sometimes that means modifying a proven product, as at Lang Plaza. And sometimes, as at Battery Playscape, it means creating something that didn’t exist before.

These questions of when to specify standard, when to modify, and when to start from scratch are also at the heart of a new continuing education course from Maglin, available soon on AEC Daily. The course explores how early collaboration between landscape architects and manufacturers can help turn site-specific design intent into practical, buildable solutions.

Article by Maglin

Maglin is a proud sponsor of World Landscape Architecture

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Located in Xiangyang, China, on the banks of the Han River, the site was originally the Jihua Textile Factory, carrying 70 years of industrial memories and the sentiment of “integrated work and residence” in a courtyard. The design takes 176 native ancient trees, each over 70 years old, as its core, integrating ecological protection, Eastern garden philosophy, and site memory to create a contemporary Eastern home that respects nature, contains warmth, and returns to tranquillity.

Ancient trees such as dawn redwood and camphor tree are the main features of the design. The project follows the principle of “making way for trees and creating courtyards around trees,” with all buildings and paths arranged around them. To protect the ancient tree on the central axis, the design allocates 800 square meters of underground space, forming a spiritual axis that runs through the site. The ancient tree is a living carrier of 70 years of the land’s memory; touching its bark is like touching the warm memories of bygone years. The thousand tons of Taihang Mountain stones are another “antique”. The stone walls are naturally formed, and the waterfall is built using ancient methods, hand-polished and spliced on-site by three generations of craftsmen. The stone bridge is joined with stone tenons, and the paving gaps are uniform. The process of laying out, assembling with cardboard, and numbering recreates the majestic, ancient charm of the mountain stones.

The project organizes the homecoming route around a “garden stroll” experience, creating spatial tension through the alternation of open and enclosed spaces. A native dawn redwood forest creates a natural ambience, with winding paths that rise and fall in a sense of anticipation. The main entrance gate, shaped like a mountain range, marks the transition from city to home. A grand green corridor of ancient trees unfolds along the central axis, exuding a sense of spaciousness. The sunken courtyard recreates the atmosphere of the famous painting “Travelers Among Mountains and Streams” using a thousand-ton Taihang Mountain stone, with a three-tiered bridge leading into the depths of the landscape. A double-corridor alley, one high and one low, allows light and water to accompany the journey.

The project doesn’t imitate the past, but rather interprets the spirit of history, reviving the warmth of the “work-life integration” courtyard, promoting neighborly interaction, and rebuilding a sense of belonging. It amplifies the experience of nature with minimal human intervention: 176 ancient trees are preserved in their original locations, maintaining the microclimate and habitat formed over 70 years; permeable paving and rainwater infiltration replenish groundwater; solar-powered LED lights reduce energy consumption; and hand-stacked stones replace energy-intensive mechanical processing. Residents can touch tree bark, listen to waterfalls, and watch the rustling of pines, gaining spiritual tranquillity and a sense of belonging.

With ancient trees as its foundation and Eastern garden design philosophy as its soul, this project
transforms industrial relics into a contemporary Eastern home that coexists with nature and engages
in dialogue with history. It proves that ecological protection, cultural heritage, and community
warmth can go hand in hand, providing a residential landscape paradigm for contemporary
high-density cities that is low-intervention yet highly perceptive, and deeply original and humanistic in value.

Xiangyang Riverside Mansion

Location: Xiangyang, China.

Landscape Architect: Chongqing Donehome Landscape Architecture Planning Design
Design Team: Youhao Xing, Wanli Peng, Chen Can, Yingyou Mai, Shenghua Zheng, Zhang Yong, Dingrong Yang, Qin Si

Images: Beyond Vision

Text: Chongqing Donehome Landscape Architecture Planning Design

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The campus strengthens the University’s civic presence, creating a new hub for research, education, enterprise and collaboration at the heart of the city.

The Sloane Robinson Building – the flagship building at the new campus – was designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, with landscape architecture and public realm by Grant Associates. The campus brings together new university buildings with a sequence of green public spaces for students, staff, businesses and the wider community.

Grant Associates’ strategy establishes landscape as the campus’s connective fabric, linking it to Bristol Temple Meads railway station, the riverside, the floating harbour walkway, and Totterdown Basin. From the outset, the ambition was to create a ‘green civic campus’, combining biodiversity and environmental performance with an inclusive public realm that supports university and city life.

A landscape for university and city life

At the heart of the landscape is University Square, a major new public space and focal point at the campus entrance. From here, tree-grove arrival spaces, planted terraces, and social areas extend towards the riverside and floating harbour walkway, creating places to meet, study, eat, and spend time outdoors.

The landscape was designed to accommodate everything from everyday pedestrian and cycle movement to informal learning, socialising and events, with integrated seating and planting helping create smaller, more intimate spaces within the wider campus.

Greening Temple Quarter

The planting strategy draws on the site’s distinctive waterside setting and natural assets, particularly the River Avon and Totterdown Basin. Planting transitions from naturalistic, biodiverse habitats along the water’s edge to more cultivated civic campus spaces, bringing a sense of ‘wildness’ into this formerly industrial part of Bristol.

A total of 126 new trees, representing 37 species, cultivars and hybrids, have been planted across the campus to provide seasonal interest, support biodiversity, create shade and strengthen climate resilience. Grant Associates worked closely with the University’s horticultural team from early design through to completion to develop the tree strategy and species selection, with regular reviews throughout the project.

“The Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus gave us the opportunity to rethink what the landscape of a city-centre university could be. We wanted the campus to feel rooted in Bristol — open, green and reconnecting nature with the city…”

Chin Chen, Associate Director at Grant Associates

From the outset, the team shared an ambition to establish a strong green identity. The team therefore selected larger, mature trees for the main civic spaces, matching the scale of the buildings and providing immediate presence and shade. This is particularly evident at University Square, where a grove of mature trees creates a strong sense of arrival from the new Temple Meads station entrance. Towards the river, a more naturalistic mix of tree sizes and species, developed with the project ecologist, strengthens habitat value and the waterside character.

More than 3,500 sq m of species-rich planting — including rain gardens, pollinator-rich planting, biodiverse roofs, native meadow, and aquatic planting — creates diverse, resilient green and blue infrastructure.

Landscape also extends into and onto the architecture. A striking five-storey-high vertical planted landscape within the Level 1 courtyard garden and three four-storey-high vertical planted internal gardens on Level 2 bring greenery and daylight into the heart of the building, blurring the distinction between interior and exterior spaces while creating a strong green presence visible from the adjacent Temple Meads platforms and the harbour.

Externally, rain gardens integrated throughout the public realm form part of the campus’s sustainable drainage strategy. Designed to capture and temporarily hold surface water during heavy rainfall, they use specially selected planting and growing media able to cope with changing water conditions. This allows the rain gardens to function as both drainage infrastructure and planted landscape, making water management visible across campus while contributing to a more resilient public realm.

Along the upper Harbourside, trees and layered planting create a greener edge overlooking the river, with seating and picnic areas providing places to pause and enjoy the waterfront.

Accessibility and movement are integral to the landscape, with routes designed to negotiate the site’s significant level changes required for flood resilience while connecting the campus with Bristol Temple Meads and the surrounding city.

The completed landscape is intended not simply as the setting for the University’s new building, but as a significant piece of public realm in its own right – opening the campus to the city and contributing to the wider transformation of Bristol Temple Quarter as a more connected, welcoming and green part of the city.

Sloane Robinson Building – Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus – University of Bristol

Client: University of Bristol

Architect: FCBS
Landscape architect: Grant Associates
Engineers: Buro Happold
Project Managers: AECOM
Vertical Planting specialist: Green Fortune
Tree Nursery: Hilliers
Main Contractor: Sir Robert McAlpine

Photography: Andy Stagg

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In the world’s most vibrant cities, luxury is often expressed through architecture, craftsmanship, and exclusivity. Yet as urban environments grow denser and green space becomes a rare sanctuary, true luxury is being redefined and measured not by what is built, but by the quality of nature returned to the city.

Designed as Dior’s first pop-up concept store in Thailand, the Garden of Dior Gold House transforms a 1,600-square-meter site in central Bangkok into a vibrant micro-green sanctuary. Rather than treating landscape as a decorative setting for architecture, the project positions nature as ecological infrastructure, cultural expression, and public well-being. Within Bangkok’s bustling Chidlom–Ploenchit district, the garden demonstrates how even a compact intervention can reconnect people with nature while redefining the relationship between luxury, ecology, and urban life.

The design responds to the city’s pressing ecological deficit by offering a walkable retreat that restores balance to the urban environment. Rather than ornamental landscaping, the garden is conceived as a living ecosystem. Layered greenery, native plantings, and curated compositions create a sensory journey where architecture and nature converse seamlessly. The golden façade of Dior Gold House is framed by lush tropical vegetation, establishing a dialogue between French elegance and Thai horticultural traditions.

Spatial Composition
The garden unfolds as a sequence of experiences. Berms and elevations shield visitors from traffic noise and dust, while pocket gardens and curated art installations invite moments of pause. A meandering path guides visitors through diverse micro-landscapes, shaded retreats beneath rain trees, vibrant seasonal blooms, and intimate clearings for reflection. Each element is scaled to human perception, ensuring the space feels immersive yet approachable.

Planting Strategy
The planting palette emphasizes resilience and biodiversity. Fan-shaped traveller’s palms, vertical footstool palms, and fragrant gardenia trees form the structural backbone, complemented by Thai auspicious plants and seasonal species. This layering creates a dynamic ecosystem that evolves throughout the year, engaging the senses through sight, scent, texture, and sound. Existing Samanea saman (Rain trees) were preserved to provide immediate canopy cover, reducing the urban heat island effect and enhancing microclimate comfort.

Environmental Performance
The garden functions as a high-performance green infrastructure. Berms and dense eye-level planting act as natural acoustic and particulate buffers, trapping PM2.5 pollutants and breaking sound waves. Native species minimise water consumption and maintenance, while vertical layering regulates temperature and provides natural insulation. These strategies collectively improve air quality, foster biodiversity, and create a restorative microclimate within Bangkok’s CBD.

Cultural Dialogue
Beyond ecological value, the design embodies cultural resonance. The integration of Thai horticultural wisdom with Dior’s French elegance creates a unique narrative of cross cultural harmony. Local artists contributed installations that punctuate the garden, reinforcing its role as both ecological retreat and cultural stage. The project demonstrates how brand activations can transcend commercial intent, becoming catalysts for urban wellbeing.

Social Impact
The Garden of Dior Gold House offers more than aesthetic pleasure, it provides psychological relief in a city where residents often travel kilometers to access green space. By situating a lush retreat within walking distance, the project restores wellbeing to the community, inviting visitors to slow their pace, breathe deeply, and reconnect with nature. Urban wildlife, such as birds and squirrels, inhabits the layered habitat, underscoring the garden’s role as a vital ecological node.

Ultimately, the Garden of Dior Gold House illustrates how modest interventions can yield profound impact. It is a beacon of harmony in Bangkok’s vertical sprawl, where fashion, art, and landscape converge to nurture both the city and the soul.

Technical Information

The technical innovation of the Garden of Dior Gold House lies in its ability to transform a compact site into a resilient ecological system within Bangkok’s dense CBD. The design prioritises environmental shielding, biodiversity, and climate resilience while maintaining aesthetic elegance.

Environmental Shielding
Bordered by high-decibel traffic and urban dust, the site required intensive buffering. Topographical berms and dense eye-level planting act as natural acoustic barriers, breaking sound waves and trapping PM2.5 pollutants. These “green lungs” create a quiet microclimate, protecting visitors from urban disruptions.

Planting Strategy
Native and climate-adapted species were selected to minimise water consumption and maintenance. Structural plantings include traveler’s palms, footstool palms, and gardenia trees, complemented by seasonal Thai auspicious plants. Existing Samanea saman (Rain trees) were preserved to provide immediate canopy cover, reducing the urban heat island effect and enhancing shade.

Microclimate & Ecology
Vertical layering of vegetation regulates temperature, provides natural insulation, and supports biodiversity. Eye-level greenery was prioritised for its psychological impact, fostering a sense of intimacy and human-scale connection to nature. The multi-layered habitat supports urban wildlife, including birds and squirrels, reinforcing the garden’s ecological role.

Sustainability
Mock up gardens were established in nurseries to test plant compatibility, ensuring resilience and long term performance. Sustainable materials were used to minimize ecological impact, aligning with Dior’s LIFE 360 environmental strategy. The garden functions as green infrastructure, improving air quality, reducing heat, and conserving resources.

Garden of Dior Gold House

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Landscape Architect: Landscape Tectonix

Text: Landscape Tectonix

Photography: PanoramicStudio, Bkkgrapher;

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Located in the heart of Yiwu, Greentown Fengqi Yilu explores how landscape can create a secluded, emotionally restorative living environment in one of the city’s most active urban districts. Rather than treating retreat as an escape from urban life, the project redefines it as a gradual transition from the public city into an immersive residential garden.

Inspired by the philosophy of Yilu—a return to nature, simplicity, and authenticity—the design reinterprets the spatial language of traditional Chinese gardens for contemporary living. Along a 200-metre urban frontage, the landscape retreats from the street edge to establish a layered threshold composed of woodland planting, topography, and garden walls. Instead of relying on a singular boundary, the landscape gently filters views, sound, and movement, allowing architecture to emerge gradually from a mountain-like setting.

A dramatic ten-metre level difference becomes the foundation of the project’s three-dimensional spatial framework. Rather than flattening the terrain, the design transforms it into a sequence of elevated gardens, sunken courtyards, terraces, and interconnected interior spaces. Public functions occupy higher levels with expansive garden views, while quieter spaces are embedded within the landscape below, creating a rich spatial rhythm of openness and enclosure, prospect and refuge.

Water serves as the project’s central spatial and emotional thread. Flowing through gardens before gathering at the sunken Lotus Lake, it changes in sound, scale, and character while connecting a series of carefully composed garden scenes. Four framed landscape windows overlook layered seasonal planting, where evergreen woodland, maples, red pines, moss, and flowering species create an evolving landscape throughout the year. Every movement through the site reveals a new relationship between water, planting, architecture, and light.

More than a residential landscape, Fengqi Yilu demonstrates how timeless Chinese garden principles can be reinterpreted within a contemporary urban condition. Through topographic depth, immersive spatial sequencing, and restrained material expression, the project creates an urban sanctuary where landscape leads the experience, architecture recedes into nature, and everyday life is reconnected with the changing rhythms of the seasons.

Greentown Yiwu · Fengqi Yilu Residence

Landscape Architect: Change Studio

Photography: Wang Ning

Text: Change Studio

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Inspired by William Robinson’s philosophy of the “Wild Garden,” this project reimagines a fire break within Swinley Forest-a 100-year-old pine plantation increasingly vulnerable to wildfire under rising global temperatures. Robinson’s approach, which promotes the use of hardy, site-adapted plant species arranged in response to local ecological conditions, provides a conceptual foundation for a landscape that is both resilient and aesthetically rich.

With wildfires in the UK projected to increase by 10-50%, the need to rethink fire-prone landscapes is urgent. Analysis of past fire events in Swinley Forest, combined with site-specific ecological study, revealed two key challenges. First, the invasive Rhododendron ponticum presents a long-term ecological threat due to its aggressive spread and suppression of native biodiversity. Second, the native but highly dominant Pteridium aquilinum forms a continuous, flammable understorey, accumulating dry biomass that significantly increases wildfire intensity.

In response, the project proposes an “Ecological Fire Break” that moves beyond conventional fire management strategies. Rather than relying solely on clearance, the design integrates fire-resilient planting, strategic habitat diversification, and targeted species management. Common Bracken is controlled through a combination of suppression and competitive planting, while Rhododendron ponticum is selectively managed-retained in controlled zones where its structural density may contribute to fire compartmentalisation, but prevented from further spread.

The fire break is reconceived as a multifunctional landscape system composed of meadowlands, rhododendron buffers, and mixed broadleaved woodlands. These elements are spatially arranged to disrupt fuel continuity, reduce fire intensity, and create ecological heterogeneity. Increased biodiversity enhances ecosystem resilience, supporting a wider range of flora and fauna while mitigating the risks associated with monoculture plantations of Pinus sylvestris.

Beyond its ecological performance, the design transforms the fire break into an experiential landscape. A network of pathways guides visitors through shifting environments-from enclosed rhododendron groves to open meadowlands and shaded woodland clearings-offering varied sensory and spatial experiences. Seasonal variation is emphasized through the introduction of robust, visually dynamic plant species, aligning with Robinson’s vision of a “wild garden” that balances naturalistic beauty with ecological
function.

Ultimately, the project reframes fire infrastructure as an opportunity: not merely a defensive measure, but a catalyst for biodiversity, resilience, and immersive landscape experience.

Ecological Fire Break

Student: Aneena Jose – University College London
Supervisors: Günther Galligioni, Christina Geros; Technical Supervisor: Vladimir Guculak;

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When you think of Southern California, what comes to mind? Sunny skies, a Mediterranean climate, and lush plant life that remains vibrant year-round. Designing a home that reflects this Californian essence involves capturing the region’s natural beauty while ensuring the landscape can withstand occasional harsh conditions. At Mandarin Oriental Residences in Beverly Hills, landscape architect Enzo Enea has created gardens, private courtyards, and a rooftop oasis inspired by the local microclimate. These outdoor spaces seamlessly blend indoor and outdoor living, inviting residents to slow down and reconnect with nature. 

Enzo Enea used the opportunity at Mandarin Oriental in Beverly Hills (MOBH) to tie in with the celebrated Southern California architectural tradition and its famous microclimate. The fresh air in SoCal provides a sense of relief, setting the tone for the entire project. Given the area’s overall conditions, the Enea team had a broad range of local plants to choose from to create spaces unique to MOBH and its residents.

The level one courtyard is tropical, lush, and shaded, immediately creating a private oasis away from the surrounding hustle and bustle of Beverly Hills. Birds of Paradise are complemented by the sweet, unmistakable smell of creeping jasmine. In addition to its beauty, the plant life on the bottom floor was deliberately chosen for its ability to thrive in the courtyard’s more shaded, north facing, enclosed environment.

The rooftop lounge, a key residential space and amenity for the building, still feels intimate and like a private refuge. The plants here – pomegranate and citrus trees, rosemary, and lavender – all evoke the feeling of summer both visually and through their signature smells. Additionally, these plants are noted for their ability to tolerate heat, wind, dryness, all hallmarks and considerations of the local microclimate and a perfect fit for their rooftop perch.

Furthermore, the signature Jade Tree courtyards in select residences feature a tree resilient to Southern California’s occasionally tricky conditions.

Mandarin Oriental Residences

Landscape Architect: Enzo Enea

Images: Courtesy of Enzo Enea

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