Landscape Architecture Portfolio | MLA Bartlett 25' | BALS HKU 22'

WONG Hoi Lam, Michelle Selected Works 2020-2024 MLA 25’ Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL BALS 22’, The University of Hong Kong

Content 01 Cash crop choreography Strategic planning

02 Mangrove Eco-Park Ecological design

03 Post-COVID 3rd Space Community design

04 Rewilding Woburn Square Green infrastructure

05 The Journey of Time Heritage design

06 The Crescent

Outdoor classroom | Playscape

Selection of hand-drawings

Overview of Muang Sing district

01 Cash crop choreography Curating remediation for food security and water equity in the Golden Triangle Spring 2022 Studio Laos: Strategic Landscape Planning for the Greater Mekong Since the government of Laos introduced a series of policies regarding opium eradication, highlanders were forced to move to lowland where most productive lands were occupied. To advocate cash crop in Muang Sing, the Nam Ha irrigation dam was built in early 2000s under a Vietnamese fund. Before the dam was paid off, Panama Disease TR4 spread intensively from monoculture Cavendish banana field, resulting in many uncertainties.

To understand the complexity of the landscape and the socio-economic-political problems behind, five typologies are developed to reflect the inequity between cash crop (represented by banana) and individual paddy farmers supported by the history of resettlement of different ethnic groups. The proposal aims to bridges the difference between local farmers by minimising the uncertainties brought by the foreign invested infrastructure projects.

Pollutant contamination in 2020

The drawing shows the comparision of banana and paddy in terms of their cultivation cycle, profits, government policies and potential environmental pollution.

Typologies

The upper timeline explains the agriculturaal, irrigational, and political aspects of the changing land us in Muang Sing. The distribution of irrigated water is prioritised to foreign invested cash crop farmers and paddy rice farmers are forced to cultivate less water-consuming crops during dry season. Five villages are selected to demonstrate the inequity between cash crop and individual paddy farmers.

Seasonal variation

Aside from water charging fee, agrotechnologies including Phytoextraction and Phytostabilization are proposed to increase food security in the future.

Banana Plantation

Phrase 1 - Soil remediation of existing polluted area

Phrase 2 - Increase crop resilience to future uncertainties

Paddy Cultivation

The strategic plan aims to reform the water charging system based on one’s ability instead of a standard charge so paddy farmers can also afford irrigation. It also shortens the time to pay back the Vietnamese loan and reduces uncertainties.

Phrase 1

Phrase 2

Site Analysis

02 Mangrove Eco-Park Enhancing ecological resilience through flexible designs and stewardship Fall 2020 Landscape Design Studio 3: “... by nature” Ho Chung, Hong Kong, contributes to large proportion of mangroves that provide home to diverse species including crabs, fishes, seagrass and birds. This highly ecological site is, however, threatened under rapid sea level rise and artificial pollution. The project develops a strategic plan to increase the ecological resilience of coastal Ho Chung through a mangrove park to promote public education.

One key feature is the hexagonal floating boards. The flexible design allows visitors to walk in different directions under tidal changes to get closer to the mangrove.

Under different walking experiences, local residents and visitors can witness the stunning appearance of mangroves as well as the detrimental damages caused by human being, thereby developing the sense of stewardship.

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Hexagonal Floating Boards

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High Tide

Scenic Viewpoint

Low Tide

Path

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Left: Hexagonal shape is deisgned for multi-directional arrangement, allowing visitors to get close to mangroves without hindering their growth.

Right: Given that the site is threatened by rapid sea level rise, the floating property of the boards prevent the park being flooded in the future.

Observatory

Traces of pollution 3

Similarly, the observatory is designed in a hexagonal shape to enable visitors to appreciate nearby scenary in multiple angles.

Garbages are intentionally kept along the walkway to remind visitors how human being has seriously pollute the local environment and ecosystem.

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Observatory 4. Pier/ Fishing Area

3. Hexagonal Floating Board

2. Terrace

1. Stilted Broad-

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Shek Tong Tsui Market

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03 Post-COVID 3rd Space Reconnecting home and workplace with flexible community spaces Summer 2022 Post-COVID [ ] Space The Hong Kong Institute of Architects HKIA 65th Anniversary Student Ideas Competition Merit Entry Group of 2 Due to the urban density in Hong Kong, communities rarely find flexible spaces where they can alter, paint, move the space and meet new people. By creating a flexible space that users can alter according to their needs, social identity and bonding within the community will be enhanced.

During the day, children can play along the climbable wall and enjoy creating their own games using the colors on the floor. In the evening and on weekends, people can freely move chairs and fold tables to create their own gathering spaces, whether they want to have a drink or chat with their friends and neighbors.

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The benches in the area have currently been underused because the high speed of vehicles contradicts humans’ slow walking pace. The presence of traffic will be diminished by planting trees along the carriageway, allowing users to feel relaxed and enjoy the scenery of the Shek Tong Tsui Market. Designed for the Post-Covid era, users on the benches may choose to face pedestrians or face the Shek Tong Tsui Market for more privacy. The circles on the ground may also act as social distancing circles.

Water-drop shaped chairs can face different orientations to maintain social distancing

Foldable chairs and tables allow flexible arrangement of spaces

Users see each other but do not talk face-to-face.

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04 Rewilding Woburn Square Bringing back the lost vegetation and history in Bloomsbury Fall 2023 Landscape Design 1: Bloomsbury Incubator Being trimmed off in the 1970s, Woburn Square became the smallest and narrowest park in Bloomsbury. As the square is heavily shaded by dense tree canopies, it often suffers from water-logged conditions with little people using the space.

The project would like to bring back lost vegetation and respect its history by raising people’s attention to the London Plane Trees as a heritage. The scheme also addresses to current problems regarding water-logging. The lawn will be transformed into rain gardens and swale with water-tolerant and shade-loving plant species. This not only increases its water storage capacity but also boosts biodiversity in the long term.

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Scale 1:1000 @A3 0 10 20

50m

Georgian buildings

Key features

Georgian-style pavilion London Plane Trees

Pedestrianised road Historical fence Rain garden

Paved path

Shrub extension Swale Pedestrianised road Mycelium furnitures New pavilion

A lot of natural processes are taking place on site. For instance, the swale and the rain gardens are expected to be eroded under rain water flow. When water is stored in the swale, it creates a highly ecological environment that attracts insects and birds.

In order to understand the details of the design, the concrete pavings of Plane Tree’s bark and leaves are casted in 1:1 scale. The texture can raise visitor’s attention towards the London Plane Trees when they walk over it.

Detail designs of the rain gardens and the swale is shown on the right with perspective views.

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05 The Journey of Time A Intergenerational Herritage and Education Community Hub

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Spring 2021 Landscape Design Studio 4: Co-Designing with Multiple Communities in Shek Kip Mei (HK) Bishop Hill Cistern acted as an important water source for the west Kowloon districts in 1980s and witnessed the history of water in Hong Kong. The valuable historical and educational context of the cistern provide an goldern oppounity for a new form of education.

Students from different schools and levels can enjoy the landscape and herritage through physical exercise, art appreciation, farming activities, seasonal variation and the like. Not only designed for students, the project introduces the history of water to visitors, be them locals or overseas tourists, by keeping frozen moments such as water, ruins and lights, in the overall walking experiences.

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Scale 1:20 @A3 0 2 4

10m

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Flow of water

Sunny days

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A pool is introduced in the center of the cistern to bring back the lost water and create a tranquil moments of reflection. By doing so, the double-arch structure is highlighted in the water to allow visitors to imagine how the cistern looked like in the past when it was filled with water.

Aside from that, part of the cistern’s roof is cut to allow sunlight enters. During rainy days, rain water will seep through the roof and form a natural waterfall to create seasonal variations. In addition, the cistern also undergoes dinual variation when the sun moves throughout the day.

To enhance the visitor’s experience, the site is expanded outward for more viewpoint opportunities. During the walk, visitors will be brought from the historical cistern to newer spaces made of mable, glass and metal. The route uses changing materials and openness to show the difference in times and lead visitors to walk from the past to the present and the future.

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06 The Crescent

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To Learn is to Play Spring 2021 120 hours Competition Group of 3 Situated in Dzunguni Village, Kenya, the Eco moyo Education Centre aims to highlight the power of education.

The Crescent invites the coexistance of various demographics within the school habitats while blending with the nature.

It welcomes the energetic with its curious, dynamic form and invites their exploration. Both outdoor and semi-indoor spaces could be found to cater to different students’ personal development. Playscape are part of the learning commons, columns act as the joineries for the blackboard panelling and the podium becomes the spectator stand.

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