CASE STUDIES

Using rough and reclaimed materials, the project beautifully embraces the industrial environment. It is an excellent answer to the question of how the port and all its features can become a cultural/artistic area, providing a place for various events and festivals. Along the dock, the surface is made up of black precast concrete slabs, pink painted pictograms, reused bricks, and a patchwork of natural stone (Harbour Quarter Square by REDscape, 2016).

The project captured the materiality pretty well. It is a similar context to the KGVD project, both of which are harbour renovations. From this case, I have learned how to play with materials and integrate modern elements to make the site in harmony with its surroundings while retaining distinctive industrial characteristics.

The drawing at the left illustrates the fieldwork of materiality at the KGVD site. The investigation of materiality gives an insight into the overall atmosphere of a place.

The diagram on right depicts the remains and materials of the GGD site. These contaminated and eroded materials indicate the history associated with the shipbuilding industry.

59 Embedding imagination into materials in the landscape Drawing, Xueyan Li, 2022

2 Material considerations and metaphors

Objects in ruins eventually change their nature due to degradation and nonhuman intervention. They are imbued with alternate aesthetic characteristics and impose their materiality on visitors' sensory perceptions. Ruined matter provides other ways of connecting with the material world in these ways (Edensor, 2005). "Material Culture is the unpacking or mining of both historic and everyday objects to find the embedded ideas and concepts that define the surrounding society," says Joyce Hill Stoner, a professor of Material Culture (2008). Materials in material culture have the potential to interpret, to communicate discourses such as the thoughts or motivations of the people or non-humans who shaped the landscape. Materials are great mediums for shaping the spatial experience. According to the whims of fashion and status, things in ruins can be reclaimed as useful or desired again, according to Michael Thompson (1979), which prompted me to consider recycling materials.

Some visitors or designers argue that hint by materials is vague and subjective, not as clear and accessible as graphics. Some designers follow trends and use currently fashionable materials but not appropriate for the site. In my view, the materials provide opportunities for diverse interactions in a way that design patterns cannot. It is when our multiple sensors are activated simultaneously that the understanding of the site becomes deep and thorough.

The montage is to convey that the materials in landscapes embody the creativity and understanding of the humans or non-humans who create them. Materialistic games are also controversial in Landscape Architecture.

Drawing, Xueyan Li, Landscape Architecture Design Exploration Part 2, 2022

61 Remaining traces and material recycling

Drawing, Xueyan Li, Landscape Architecture Design Exploration Part 2, 2022

The diagram above illustrates the main material types I have selected for the KGVD project, with both stone and concrete reclaimed from the site. Corten steel was to highlight the industrial atmosphere while Oak timber was to respond to the ship deck material.

The drawing below reveals the remaining traces in the landscape. It has given me a solid foundation to play with materials in my work. I recycled materials from some of the demolition areas and transferred them to other areas within the site, including concretes, stones and trees.

62 Deck platform detailed plan

Drawing, Xueyan Li, Landscape Architecture Design

Exploration Part 2, 2022

63 Flower bed details

Drawing, Xueyan Li, Landscape Architecture Design

Exploration Part 2, 2022

64 Deck platform details

Drawing, Xueyan Li, Landscape Architecture Design

Exploration Part 2, 2022

Deck Platform Materials

Ideveloped a double viewing balcony on the waterfront to watch the industrial relics across the river. The material selected for the deck is mainly Oak, as it is the most frequently used timber in the shipbuilding industry. The deck tends to create different visual experiences at different levels of a ship. The corten steel benches and flower beds on the deck echo the industrial atmosphere. The materiality of the vegetation has been reinforced by preserving the existing plant species and introducing native species.

The drawings at right illustrate the construction details of the deck. In Landscape Architecture, CAD works are typically applied to express construction details, including the types of materials and the structure of joints. Their target audience is builders, and they function as the bridge between the designer and the building team. Sketches are more of a reflection of the designer's own thinking and iteration. Design drawings are generally aimed at the clients and the public. I believe that it is essential to master different categories of drawing skills, which help us to communicate ideas more thoroughly.

The heavy concrete and rough steel embrace the industrial environment. Recycled timber as deadwood contributes to biodiversity. These materials are employed to produce a sense of peace counter to the dullness of industry.

These materials are environment-friendly and will not exacerbate the current climate crisis, including for decades to come. I believe that our obligation as landscape architects is to safeguard the planet and do what we can with our expertise and efforts to respond to the ecological crisis.