YUÁN - International Master Garden

SLA’s founder Stig L. Andersson was, together with four other internationally renowned landscape designers, selected to create International Master Gardens for the Beijing International Horticultural Expo 2019.

SLA’s Master Garden is YUÁN, a new Chinese sign for ‘garden’. In the project, SLA aims to create a new meaning of the Chinese garden in the Anthropocene era. YUÁN draws on a deep knowledge of China’s cultural history, nature, art, architecture, and philosophy and re-uses these elements in a new and profound way. Thus, YUÁN shows how we can use traditional Chinese culture and nature in modern city planning to improve the quality of life for China’s population, while at the same time solving many of the challenges our cities, our world, and we ourselves, face today.

SLA’s Master Garden YUÁN creates a new ‘landscape morpheme’ for the Chinese garden in the Anthropocene Age. Drawing on traditional Chinese culture, nature, art, landscapes, architecture and philosophy, YUÁN re-interprets these historic elements in a present setting, addressing many of the challenges our cities and our world face today, while (re)connecting the visitors with nature – a connection so many modern city-dwellers, not only in China, have lost.

YUÁN is – beside being a new interpretation of the Chines Garden – also a beacon for urban sustainability: The garden uses only recycled, upcycled and local materials (such as upcycled building waste, locally grown trees and carbon-reducing bamboo scaffolding) while also providing eco-system services such as natural pollution cleansing, reduction of stress and rainwater management. Thus, SLA’s YUÁN master garden becomes a reference for how to use traditional Chines nature, art and philosophy in modern city planning to improve the quality of life for China’s population, while at the same time solving many of its largest urban challenges.