Yi You has over 20 years’ experience as a landscape architect and urban designer in the UK, China and the MENA region. As one of the Design Directors for both Cracknell’s London and Shenzhen offices, he oversees the design and management of multi-scale landscape, urban design and masterplanning projects and is responsible for the regional market business development and liaises with international and local clients and consultants to maintain sound professional relationships and to deliver high-quality design consultancy services. Recently, WLA had the opportunity to hear Yi You thoughts on working across different countries, cultures and scales.
WLA | In recent years, landscape architects have often become the lead consultant. Have you dealt with this shift during your career?
In my experience, I have not acted as a lead consultant under contract on the projects I have worked on, but I have certainly been more in the role of a design lead for multidisciplinary developments, especially on public realm projects we have worked on in China. In those cases, the client clearly requested that the project be a landscape-led design process integrated with the wider social, environmental, and spatial/architectural context, with an emphasis on creating beautiful, memorable, and inclusive open spaces.
When I worked in the UK between 2005 and 2012, landscape was primarily treated as a secondary discipline with a limited budget allowance, but was also frequently one of the top items for Value Engineering. Only when we needed to complete an LVIA or achieve BREEAM points, did it receive enough attention. In comparison, the value of a landscape-led design approach is particularly evident in the public realm projects I subsequently worked on in China. More emphasis was given to place-making, the quality of the outdoor lifestyle, biodiversity to some extent, sponge city strategies (the Chinese version of SuDS), and the well-being & public health of local communities. Having now worked on Middle Eastern projects, I can say that landscape design has a significant impact on cities and projects, improving the microclimate and creating a thermally comfortable lifestyle.
WLA | During your career, you have worked in many countries. What are some of the similarities or differences between working across several countries?
During my career as a landscape architect, I have lived and worked in the UK and China, and have worked on projects remotely in some Middle Eastern countries, namely Egypt, KSA, UAE, and Iraq.
The differences are very evident between Europe, the Middle East and China, in terms of the cultural and social background, planning approval & development control context, as well as local climate and visual character, which all affect the way we respond to the client’s technical requests, navigate around the development constraints, optimise the design solutions, and manage the project implementations.
The similarity, in my view, lies within professionalism. Although the legal, commercial and financial situations vary between different countries, the expectation and delivery of professional landscape services are fundamentally the same, with a binding and sometimes challenging relationship between the client and design consultant. The pains and joys experienced in different countries as a service provider are similar…
Response to context is a fundamental part of being a landscape architect. I enjoy exploring this through regular urban sketching.
WLA | Cracknell works on projects of varying scales. Do you have a different design approach for every project, or do you use some founding principles?
The short answer is yes to both parts of the question.
As landscape architects, we are responsible for protecting, conserving and enhancing the natural and built environment, by creating unique, meaningful and sustainable places that can be enjoyed by all over many generations.
At a specific level, every project is different, ranging from a small private villa garden to a multi-billion-dollar complex development. A tailored design approach will be applied to suit different clients’ demands, budgets, local contexts and constraints, and various implementation methods and processes. In some cases, similar-scale projects of the same type may be handled with a similar approach, but there are always bespoke aspects to the proposed design solutions.
WLA | What is the most critical skill or mindset they need to develop as a young landscape architect?
In the age of AI and amid many uncertainties, it is challenging to give advice to younger landscape architects based on our own experience, as things are changing rapidly and leading us into new ways we are not familiar with.
However, if the design and buildings were still largely facilitated and delivered by humans, the fundamental skill would remain the same: communication and the ability to effectively interpret human client demands and translate them into comprehensive solutions expressed through fully coordinated technical packages, supported by an empathetic visual narrative and clear design language.
Thank you to Yi You for sharing their thoughts on working as a landscape architect across different countries, cultures, and scales.
Images: Copyright Cracknell unless otherwise captioned