Winner of the 2025 WLA Student Awards – Outstanding Award in the Concept – Small Design category
Living Landmarks is situated in Yangjiaping, Jiulongpo District, Chongqing, China—a densely built commercial hub where decades of rapid urbanization have fragmented ecological networks and eroded cultural heritage. Once embedded in a vibrant community landscape, the area’s century-old trees now stand scattered across hardened plazas. Though physically preserved, they are ecologically severed—cut off from surrounding green systems and stripped of their role as living cultural anchors.
The project reimagines these trees not as passive relics to be observed, but as active spatial, ecological, and cultural agents within a renewed urban fabric. Combining on-site investigation with environmental analysis, the study identified key challenges: microclimatic stress from urban heat islands, excessive artificial lighting disrupting nocturnal ecosystems, restricted root zones due to soil compaction, fading cultural identity, and a lack of integration with the district’s economic and social life.
A multi-layered ecological strategy addresses these interconnected issues. Elevated walkways safeguard sensitive root zones while offering immersive vantage points for visitors. Low-color-temperature, directional lighting reduces ecological disturbance while maintaining nighttime safety. Multifunctional planters integrate native vegetation with sustainable rainwater systems, enhancing biodiversity and resilience. Public spaces—such as outdoor markets, cultural displays, and interactive installations—reconnect residents with the trees, fostering participation and reinforcing local identity.
Through minimal yet targeted interventions, the design restores environmental health, strengthens community engagement, and repositions ancient trees as living landmarks—rooted in memory, active in the present, and resilient into the future—demonstrating how cities can regenerate by nurturing life forms that have endured for generations.
Living Landmarks: A Community-Centered Approach to Ancient Tree Renewal
Student: Jie Wu – Sichuan Fine Arts Institute;
Supervisor: Yu Ou