2023 Student Awards

The 2023 World Landscape Architecture (WLA) Student Awards had over 125 entries from current and graduate students in landscape architecture. The shortlist was announced in early November 2023, with the quality of this year’s entries equal to that of past years, and the jurors were impressed, making it hard to select the final winners.

2023 Student Awards Jury

Afshin Ashari
Assistant Professor in Landscape Architecture – School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD) – University of Guelph.

Ed Wall
Professor of Cities and Landscapes – University of Greenwich; Visiting Professor at Politecnico di Milano

L. Irene Compadre, PLA ASLA
Founding Principal, Design Director – Arbolope Studio; Lecturer – Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis

Mansi Shah
Founder – Productive Urbanism Collective
Adjunct Assistant Professor at Bachelor of Urban Design, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India

Zheng Xiaodi, Ph.D., RLA, ASLA, CHSLA,
Associate Professor and Assistant Dean – Tsinghua University School of Architecture; Vice Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture; Founding Director of the Center for Brownfields Research

2023 Student Awards Winners

Concept – Analysis & Planning
Award of Excellence 
From Decline to revival-Madré Mountain Coffee in the Climate Crisis
Zhou Xuesi – East China Normal University; Supervisor: Li Xin;

Merit Awards
Improvement of Honey-Peach agrosystem in Yangshan
Chengxi Huang, Siwei Wang, Jialin Tan, Zhuoheng Yang – Nanjing Forestry University; Yichen Xian, University Of Waterloo; Supervisor: Xinwang Sun, Nanjing Forestry University.

TRIBING: Revitalize Ecological Wetland with Agricultural Livelihood Integration
Tian Yang, Nanjing Forestry University; Panpan Sun – Xi`an University of Architecture and Technology; Supervisor: Mengqing Yu, Wageningen University & Research.

Honour Awards
Fight for a Flower in Palestinian-Israeli region | Wenqian Niu – Cornell University; Xin Lyu – Inner Mongolia Arts University; Chenyue Zhao – The University of Hong Kong; Supervisor: Jian Jiao;
Artificial Island Seed Launch Centre | Qin Qianqian – University of Hong Kong; Supervisor: Wataru, Guest lecturer, University of Hong Kong;

Concept – Large Design
Award of Excellence 
Re(de)fining Decomposition | Joyce Fong – University of Virginia; Supervisor: Leena Cho, Associate Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia

Merit Awards
The back yard Stitch the cities on both sides, patch the city hollow | Dong Xiaohan – Anhui Jianzhu University; Supervisor: Jennifer Birkeland, Professor, Cornell University.

Orkney Climate Theatre Design | Jo Wang – University College London; Supervisors: Laurence Blackwell Thale, Pete Davies, University College London;

Honour Awards
Aria of the Growth | Xinyuan Zhang, Qianlin Hu, Chengyao Ban, Changying Cheng – Southwest Jiaotong University; Supervisor: Jia Zhong;

Weaving the city: ecological restoration in the Amphawa region of Thailand | Wang Yichun – Macau University of Science and Technology; Supervisor: Chen Pan;

 

Concept – Small Design
Award of Excellence 
Re(de)fining Decomposition | Joyce Fong – University of Virginia; Supervisor: Leena Cho, Associate Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia

Merit Awards
OASIS | Yuxuan Cai, Brenden Berry, Danthai Dimalanta, Cloudia Wooten, Alyssa Gainey, Kiayna Ford, Kaulupali Makaneole, Julian Thomas, Irina Koleva, Rejndi Hylviu, Saul Cardenas-Meza, Nicholas Saito, Blaise Madayag, Karla Nicole Opiniano – University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Supervisor: Xiwei Shen

Honour Awards
Absence & Presence | Shengtao Shen – Sichuan Agricultural University; Supervisor: Bingyang Lv;

Research
Award of Excellence 
MINUS-C | Delaram Ebrahimi Nia – Politecnico di Milano; Supervisor: Prof. Mattia Previtali, Politecnico di Milano;

Merit Award
Digitally fabricated concrete applied to terrain responsive design | Nada Abdel-Aziz – Mississippi State University; Supervisor: Abbey Franovich

Honor Award
Microclimate Improvement & Stormwater Management Testing | Ruoyu Ding – University of Kassel; Supervisor: Nischa Patel, University of Kassel;

Graduate
Award of Excellence 
Fungal Intervention for Tropical Rainforest Preservation | Qiuhui Zhu- Nanjing Forestry University, Qiuyi Rao – Guangzhou University; Supervisor: Xinqi Zhuang;

Merit Award
Incomplete Landscapes: Depoliticising the disputed island of Pedra Branca through landscapes of co-production | Eugene Tan – National University of Singapore; Supervisor: A/Prof Lilian Chee;

The Anarcheological Dialectics | Arda Coşan – İstanbul Technical University; Supervisor: Hayriye Eşbah Tunçay, Professor, İstanbul Technical University;

Honour Awards
Traces of Water | Qin Jing – University of Pennsylvania; Supervisor: Valerio Morabito;

Mining Sand Claiming Land | Lok Yan Wong – Oslo School of Architecture and Design; Supervisors: Luis Callejas and Sabine Müller, Professors, Oslo School of Architecture and Design and Nils Roar Sælthun, hydrologists;

 

Images shown above are the Award of Excellence winners as nominated in each category

2023 Student Awards Winners

Concept Analysis & Planning
Cold Heat-snow as a new energy source to build the future landscape from inland to the coastal
Siyuan Liu – University College London – Supervisor: Jian Jiao

Improvement of Honey-Peach agrosystem in Yangshan
Chengxi Huang, Siwei Wang, Jialin Tan, Zhuoheng Yang – Nanjing Forestry University; Yichen Xian, University Of Waterloo; Supervisor: Xinwang Sun, Nanjing Forestry University

TRIBING: Revitalize Ecological Wetland with Agricultural Livelihood Integration
Tian Yang, Nanjing Forestry University; Panpan Sun – Xi`an University of Architecture and Technology;

From decline to revival-Madré Mountain Coffee in the Climate crisis
Zhou Xuesi – East China Normal University; Supervisor: Li Xin;

Reclaiming forest fragments Dung beetles
Yawei Shang, Leilei Nong – Guangxi University;

Reviving Amalfi Coast Terraces：Redefining Cultural Landscape Identity
Yuqing Wang – Tongji University; Wenwen Cui – Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University; Kerui Zeng – Luoyang Normal University; Zhenhui Guo – Jilin Jianzhu University; Supervisor: Yurong Xue, Tianjin University;

Fight for a Flower in Palestinian-Israeli region
Wenqian Niu – Cornell University; Xin Lyu – Inner Mongolia Arts University; Chenyue Zhao – The University of Hong Kong; Supervisor: Jian Jiao;

Artificial Island Seed Launch Centre
Qin Qianqian – University of Hong Kong; Supervisor: Wataru, Guest lecture, University of Hong Kong

Reshaping Chinatown Landscape: the Self-built Heterotopia Community
Yichun Wang – Zhejiang University; Supervisor: Pan Chen;

Community Regeneration Led By Destructive Plants
Yanxi Yang – Yangtze University, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Supervisors: Xiujuan Zhang, Professor, Yangtze University; Junbang Wang, Professor, Institute of Geographic Sciences And Natural Resources Research;

Concept – Large Design
Night Plus – Night Fitness and Travel Park Design of Hangzhou
Zihan Gan. Yinqiu Zhu, Yixuan Jiang – China Academy of Art; Supervisor: Jian Shao, Professor, China Academy of Art;

The recharging of water intersects with human and non-human
Tanya Lim – The University of Hong Kong;

Planting for the Future Post-Industrial Delaware River Waterfront
Junyi Yang – University of Pennsylvania; Supervisor: Karen M’Closkey, University of Pennsylvania

Orkney Climate Theatre Design
Jo Wang – University College London; Supervisor: Laurence Blackwell Thale, Pete Davies, University College London;

Re(de)fining Decomposition
Joyce Fong – University of Virginia; Supervisor: Leena Cho, Associate Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia

The back yard Stitch the cities on both sides, patch the city hollow
Dong Xiaohan – Anhui Jianzhu University; Supervisor: Jennifer Birkeland, Professor, Cornell University

Permanent Residency in the Fields Productive Landscape Designs Under Smart Agricultural Model Design
Baishuo Chen, Zheng Feng, Yaxuan He – Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University; Supervisors: Chen Yan, Zhicong Zheng – Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University;

Filling Tanks, Fueling Vitality Design
Mu He – South China University of Technology; Junwen Kang – Guangdong Ocean University; Supervisor: Menghan Zhang – Beijing Forestry University

Aria of the Growth
Xinyuan Zhang, Qianlin Hu, Chengyao Ban, Changying Cheng – Southwest Jiaotong University; Supervisor: Jia Zhong;

Rewilding coastal landscapes
Valentina Caro – University College London (UCL), The Bartlett School of Architecture;

Reshaping the salt pan
Mu Li – Sichuan Agricultural University; Supervisor: Jia Zhong;

Bio-Corridors_Linking Habitats For Productive And Ecological Connectivity Design
weaving the city
Shaurya Singh – Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT University; Supervisor: Mansi Shah, CEPT University, India;

Weaving the city: ecological restoration in the Amphawa region of Thailand
Wang Yichun – Macau University of Science and Technology; Supervisor: Chen Pan;

Concept – Small Design
Wild and Unseen Designing for our Tiny Relationships
Juliia MacNelly – University of Virginia; Supervisor: Matthew Seibert, Assistant Professor, University of Virginia

Re-design the flower market under the guidance of market interests
Yang Siyan, Tian Yajie – Hebei University of Architecture; Supervisor: Wang Xinyi;

Absence& Presence
Shengtao Shen – Sichuan Agricultural University; Supervisor: Bingyang Lv;

OASIS
Yuxuan Cai, Brenden Berry, Danthai Dimalanta, Cloudia Wooten, Alyssa Gainey, Kiayna Ford, Kaulupali Makaneole, Julian Thomas, Irina Koleva, Rejndi Hylviu, Saul Cardenas-Meza, Nicholas Saito, Blaise Madayag, Karla Nicole Opiniano – University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Supervisor: Xiwei Shen

Research
Microclimate Improvement & Stormwater Management Testing
Ruoyu Ding – University of Kassel; Supervisor: Nischa Patel, University of Kassel;

Digitally fabricated concrete applied to terrain responsive design
Nada Abdel-Aziz – Mississippi State University; Supervisor: Abbey Franovich

MINUS-C
Delaram Ebrahimi Nia – Politecnico di Milano; Supervisor: Prof. Mattia Previtali, Politecnico di Milano;

Designing innovative green stormwater infrastructure for flood mitigation under climate change
Suphicha Muangsri – Lincoln University; Supervisor: Wendy McWilliam, Associate Professor, Lincoln University and Gillian Lawson Associate Professor, Lincoln University;

Landscape knots The meshing of actors in the Parkland Walk
Ziyi Yu – University College London; Supervisor: Eric Guibert

Graduate
The Canvey Concept
Ruby Zielinski – University College London; Supervisors: Tom Budd, Lyn Poon, Marco Cerati

Mining Sand Claiming Land
Lok Yan Wong – Oslo School of Architecture and Design; Supervisor: Luis Callejas and Sabine Müller, Professors, Oslo School of Architecture and Design and Nils Roar Sælthun, hydrologists;

Upside Down Flows
Virgilio Diaz, Karelia Diaz – Politecnico di Milano; Supervisor: Andrea Oldani;

The Last Drop Decentralizing Water Infrastructure for a Dry Future
Yu-Ming Hsu – The Ohio State University; Supervisor: Forbes Lipschitz, Associate Professor, The Ohio State University

Incomplete Landscapes: Depoliticising the disputed island of Pedra Branca through landscapes of co-production
Eugene Tan – National University of Singapore; Supervisor: A/Prof Lilian Chee;

Fungal Intervention for Tropical Rainforest Preservation
Qiuhui Zhu- Nanjing Forestry University, Qiuyi Rao – Guangzhou University; Supervisor: Xinqi Zhuang;

Traces of Water
Qin Jing – University of Pennsylvania; Supervisor: Valerio Morabito;

The Anarcheological Dialectics
Arda Coşan – İstanbul Technical University; Supervisor: Hayriye Eşbah Tunçay, Professor, İstanbul Technical University;

Living Urban Watershed
Christopher Lucas Dobbin – Harvard Graduate School of Design; Supervisor: Rosalea Monacella, Professor, Harvard GSD

Sculpted
Teesta Singh – CEPT University, Ahmedabad; Supervisor: Priyanka Kanhare, Professor, CEPT University