Recently, it’s announced that the design of HZAU postgraduates ranked No.4 among the 52 entries from 19 countries in the 2018 International Student Design Competition, organized by the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools (ECLAS) LE:NOTRE Landscape Forum. Owing to their excellent performance, designers Yang Diechuan, Gao Tongxi, Guo Shuyu, and Xiong Dongyu, majoring in Landscape Architecture, won the Excellence Award, with Prof. Gao Chi, the discipline leader as the coach.

Design Renderings

With the theme of “Future! Envisioning the Eco Island of Gozo in 2050”, the Design Competition was held in Gozo, Malta, in the Mediterranean region.

Having analyzed the land changes and disasters of the Gozo over the past 20 years, the team believed that the unplanned city expansion is mainly accountable for the unbalanced landscapes of the island. Thus, “Eco-parks as the bridge for reconciling islandscapes” served as the theme at last. Based on the identification of the islandscape heterogeneity in Gozo, the designers proposed to take eco-parks as a carrier to foster ecological heritage tourism and sell special agricultural products. On the one hand, eco-parks can be used as buffers for protection and development, open spaces for relaxation and disaster prevention, as well as connection with the construction of ecological heritage corridors; on the other hand, they can be regarded as unique sites for the management of special agricultural products. In light of important roles of eco-parks, the contradiction between development and protection of the island will be gradually reconciled in an integrated manner in the next 50 years, and ultimately the island will achieve its balance.

Original Text: http://news.hzau.edu.cn/2018/0323/51580.shtml

Translation by Liao Hongmei; Proofreading by Guo Haiyan