If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Marcus Tullius Cicero
JIACHENG SEBASTIAN JIN Landscape Designer Film Production Designer Washington University in St. Louis, Master of Landscape Architecture, Master of Urban Design, 2021 Fu Jen Catholic University, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, 2017
01 Pharmacopeia of Land
Reconnecting Land with People: Ethnobotanical Medicinal Plant Farm + Research Landscape
Green New Deal Super Studio (Fall, 2020) (Individual Work)
02 The VIZ
Landscape Design for Ivory Perry Park, St. Louis, Missouri ANOVA Competition 2017 First Prize (Fall, 2017) (Teamwork with Shuying Wu & Rory Thibault)
03 Bamboo & Water
Landscape Design for Mass Rapid Transit Tou-Qian-Zhuang Station Neighborhood Plaza (Individual Work)
04 Co-Living City
Urban Design with Transit Oriented Development and Green Connection for Chicago in 2100 (Individual Work)
05 Extension
The Green Playground of Montessori School, St. Louis (Individual Work)
06 Urban Agricultural Park
Frew Park, Rosalie, Brisbane, Australia Community Park for Urban Agriculture and Flood Management (Teamwork with May Xue)
07 Thawing Alaska
Landscape Design & Management of Thawing Permafrost in Utqiagvik, Alaska (Teamwork with May Xue)
Pharmacopeia of Land Reconnecting Land with People: Ethnobotanical Medicinal Plant Farm + Research Landscape Green New Deal Superstudio (Individual Work) Since ancient times, people have lived on the land and taken gifts without asking from nature. Human beings have a strong and indivisible connection with the land. The project Pharmacopeia of Landis a poetic narration about people and nature, local culture, and history. This project, inspired by the life, culture, and history of Native American and coal mine workers living on this land, transforms this 120-acre former strip mine into an ethnobotany based medicinal plant farm and re-search landscape. Unlike traditional agriculture, I brought techniques of agroforestry and wetland agriculture into the project. I divided the land into different areas according to the characteristics of the natural environ-ment; then, I arranged diverse medicinal plants which are suitable for growing in different areas. These plants have rich medicinal value with cultural and historical ties with different races and ethnicities, including Native Americans. European settler, African American, Latino and Asian. I have also brought into this project a particular focus on the medicinal plants used to treat respiratory diseases related to the former coal miners and the current COVID-19 pandemic. With this design, I hope to make people have a comprehensive understanding of the stories on this land, reawaken their memories and senses belong to the land, and inherit the precious spiritual and cultural wealth of different races and ethnicities. This project will also serve as eco-friendly agriculture and research enterprise under the Green New Deal policy and provide reference for the transformation of other abandoned mines. (Fall, 2020)
DESIGN THINKING PAST - PRESENT - FUTURE IN CULTURE & HISTORY
section of coal mining
section of hunting
section of crafting
section of history & future
section of design concept with different races & ethnicities
master plan
DETAIL DESIGN with Section & Perspective
I would like to integrate the educational display of medicinal plants into the landscape design. In the greenhouse, I selected some non-native medicinal plants to provide a more suitable environment for them to grow.
I chose a lot of aquatic plants and plants that thrive in moist environments. All of these plants also have medicinal properties. The medicinal value is related to different ethnic cultures and historical backgrounds. These different plants create a rich and unique landscape.
DETAIL DESIGN with Section & Perspective
In this native medicinal herb farm, I choose eight native medicinal herb plants. They are all native to Missouri. It is easier for those plants to grow in this farm. The plants also have connections with different ethnicities and races. It could be an interactive and educational agricultural practice.
In agroforestry farm, I arrange canopy trees and medicinal herbs to create a multi-layer agricultural landscape. I list four main tree species and four main herb species here. Because of the shade provided by the canopy, those herb plants should be tolerant to shade. I would also like to introduce some livestock to this farm. The farm will have greater biodiversity and sustainable value.
The VIZ Landscape Design for Ivory Perry Park, St. Louis, Missouri ANOVA Competition 2017 First Prize (Teamwork with Shuying Wu & Rory Thibault) Ivory Perry Park is in a socio-politically sensitive neighborhood. Among other things, what is needed here is a landscape that stitches community, memory, and future together. By slightly massaging the topography, significant changes could arise. For example, minor manipulations of the ground plane could cause people to walk slower or faster, questioning the meaning of ‘WALK’, or ‘RUN’, and focusing more on the landscape around them. With the introduction of multi-functional furniture, with mirrors on the joints, cooperation is required. Here, Ivory Perry Park is the stage upon which human inspection and projection may occur. (Fall, 2017)
connection map
community activity and proposed relocation
vegetation
the way to memorial (by Shuying Wu)
master plan (by Shuying Wu)
model of street furniture (by Rory Thibault)
section (by Shuying Wu)
Bamboo & Water Landscape Design for Mass Rapid Transit Tou-Qian-Zhuang Station Neighborhood Plaza (Individual Work) Mass rapid transit Tou-Qian-Zhuang Station is located in New Taipei City, Taiwan. Lots of people live in this area take subway at this station to work, study. In the present plaza, there is not enough shade, which results in that in the hot summer, pedestrians and surrounding residents will not choose to stay here. At the same time, the current plaza has no space to offer activity opportunities. As for pedestrians, they mostly choose to pass through the square quickly. By means of landscape architecture design, I hope to provide multi-functional space for pedestrians to stay and move on the premise of ensuring the smooth flow of traffic. I choose bamboo and water as the two major elements. In Chinese culture, bamboo is a symbol of grace, cleanness, simplicity, and peace. Water is a symbol of purity, gentleness, modesty, and tolerance. I used these two traditional elements to create more interesting spaces in the site. I hope to create a quiet and interesting public space with traditional Chinese aesthetic value. (Spring, 2015)
SITE ANALYSIS
MASTER PLAN
PERSPECTIVE PLANTING DESIGN
LANDSCAPE COLOR
Co-Living City Urban Design with Transit Oriented Development and Green Connection for Chicago in 2100 (Individual Work) In 2100, Chicago will become a co-living city. All residents will live in a more sustainable and livable urban area with a good ecological environment. It could be considered as a co-living system of human beings, animals, and plants in the city, which also provide sufficient natural resources for people in Chicago and other cities in the Great Lake Region. The district I choose is in the north part of Chicago City. The further north is Calcary Catholic Cemetery in Evanston. Most buildings here are residential buildings, with relatively high vegetation coverage and many public parks. I hope to make use of its advantages and follow four design principles to create an excellent co-living area as for the first pilot in Chicago. In this project, I would like to follow the principles of transit-oriented development and urban design, create well-developed green corridor and natural resources network in the city, transform the existing water edges to resilient and ecological lake shore. There will also be urban ecology and urban agriculture in which humans, animals and plants co-exist. (Spring, 2020)
DESIGN PRINCIPLE
STRATEGY DIAGRAM
transportation
green public space
residential areas
MASTER PLAN
section perspective of sand dune
perspective of pedestrian-friendly street
section A-A’
section B-B’
section of the whole district
Extension The Green Playground of Montessori School, St. Louis (Individual Work) The site was next to the buildings of Montessori School, St. Louis. The entrance is hidden too much, and the metal fence is cols and not inviting for students to come into the garden. This space is a valuable green public space for the school. I hope that this space could provide both static and dynamic activities. For the planting design, I preserve the existing trees and add more colors to this landscape project with different plants. Because of the location, the sunlight is sufficient. All the plants could grow well in full sun and part shade. Those trees could provide enough shade for teachers and students in classroom and playground. Besides, I choose four species that could attract butterflies and other pollinators, to help the pollination of the mini landscape farm. The mini landscape farm could also provide educational functions for students. (Spring, 2018)
Urban Agricultural Park Frew Park, Rosalie, Brisbane, Australia Community Park for Urban Agriculture and Flood Management (Teamwork with May Xue) Frew Park is in Rosalie, Brisbane, Australia. The location is in the middle catchment and low-lying area. The park often suffers from severe flooding during rainy seasons or heavy rains. We would like to turn the disadvantage of the terrain into the advantage of the terrain. The park is ideal for urban agriculture because of the accumulation of rain and groundwater. At the same time, we would like to preserve the original public space and provide a variety of activities for the residents of the surrounding neighborhood. From a neighborhood point of view, we also want the park to be more functional. We hope to collect and reuse grey water under the ground of the park. The collected grey water could be used for irrigation of agriculture and landscape plants. (Summer, 2020)
SITE LOCATION
SYSTEM DIAGRAM
FREW PARK
MASTER PLAN (by May Xue)
DETAIL DESIGN
(by May Xue & Jiacheng Jin)
SEASONAL VEGETABLE
SECTION (by May Xue)
SEASONAL LANDSCAPE
@ RETAINNING WALL
Thawing Alaska Landscape Design & Management for Thawing Permafrost in Utqiagvik, Alaska (Teamwork with May Xue) Alaska is experiencing serious permafrost thawing. As permafrost thaws, houses, roads, airports, and other infrastructure built on top of it will crack and even collapse. Similarly, infrastructure built underground, such as utilities, is being affected by rising temperatures. Besides, the thawing of permafrost will lead to the spread of more greenhouse gases, aggravating the global greenhouse effect. (Goudarzi, 2017) Therefore, we need to take effective measures as soon as possible to slow or even suspend the thawing of permafrost. We are going to take two different approaches. First, we will use native herbivores in Alaska to slow and consistently mitigate permafrost thawing, based on an article on Scientific Reports (Beer, C., Zimov, N., Olofsson, J. et al., 2020) In this article, the authors tell us that the density of snow will increase due to the trampling of animals. Tighter snow cover could reduce heat loss from the soil. The rate of thawing permafrost could be slowed. Therefore, we will conduct landscape design and rotation management in less populated areas. We would like to select local plants that could attract more herbivores and plant and manage them in different areas to attract herbivores to live in different areas, thus achieving the desired objectives. Second, we will use thermosyphons heat pipes to relieve the pressure of permafrost melting in areas where there are lots of houses. The pipes could absorb heat from the soil and then be used as an adjuvant to heating a house. We use the form of a graphic novel to describe the crisis of permafrost thawing, where governments, residents and scientists sit together to discuss solutions and future directions. We hope that we could improve the problem of permafrost thawing with this relatively softer and long-term solution. Reference: Beer, C., Zimov, N., Olofsson, J. et al. Protection of Permafrost Soils from Thawing by Increasing Herbivore Density. Sci Rep 10, 4170 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60938-y Goudarzi, Sara. The Great Thaw of America’s North is Coming. (2017). https://www.bbc.com/future/ article/20171016-the-great-thaw-of-americas-north-is-coming (Summer, 2020)
(by May Xue)
Landscape Rotation & Animal Migration
(by Jiacheng Jin)
(by Jiacheng Jin)
(by May Xue & Jiacheng Jin)
(by Jiacheng Jin)
(by May Xue & Jiacheng Jin)