Landscape Architecture Portfolio

XIAOHUA

YI

L A N D S C A P E ARCHI TECTURE

01 Memberable Ghost 02 Hirarth 03 Framing 04 Wild Grass 05 Realm in a Jar 06 Molecular 07 Zhe Zi Xi 08 Everything Flows 09 Land Revelation 10 Epiphany 11 Reappraisals 12 Photograph

Curriculum Vitae Education Anhui Jianzhu University (China), Landscape Architecture. 2012 - 2016 Politecnico di Milano (Italy), Landscape Architecture & Land Landscape Heritage. 2018 -

Experiences The architecture office of the South China University of Technology. 2015 The Centre for Land and Cultural Resources Research of Fudan University. 2017 Laboratorio di sensibilizzazione paesaggistica, Il porto come confine: Brindisi e il mare. 2019 Workshop, Paesaggi Futuri 2019 – Il lungolago Verbano. 2019

Computer skills Auto CAD Rhino Adobe Photoshop Adobe Indesign Adobe Illustrator SketchUp V-Ray for SketchUp Lumion Q GIS Figma

Language Mandarin: Native speaker English: Fluent

Xiaohua Yi

Phone: +39 3661223301 E-mail: yixhuax@gmail.com

https://issuu.com/psithurism

01 Memorable Ghost [ Urban leftover space design ]

Individual work / September 2020 Site: Guangzhou, China. (113.25E, 23.10N) In 2009, an interchange was built around a building. Before it was built, the government first tried to persuade all the residents to move a w a y, b u t s e v e r a l re f u s e d . T h e government had to change their plan. Finally, they demolished three buildings, remain one and leave it right in the centre of the interchange.

This is a profile of modernization and urbanization, as well as a portrait of the fight between the individuals who are exercising their civil rights against the government. Left aside different opinions among different people, the embody evidence of this event is worth remembering and rethinking by the next generations.

Land property ownership in China only has 70 years. By then, it will become a leftover space that no one wanted. However, with careful design, this place can become a pocket park, a public space that brings energy to city life. It can play an essential role in the dense and oppressed metropolis.

Dilapidated walls indicate a trace of the past; trees grow tall covering the inner space like the building used to be; mowed grass grows inside; street trees and shrubs separate cars from the outside. People wander, stay, carry on outdoor social life. When their eyes finally rest on the remains, they may wonder what urbanization has done to us.

02 Hiraeth

[ Playground design ]

A homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which m

Nubes a la deriva, continentes sonámbulos El jardín es pequeño, el cielo inmenso — Octavio Paz, Jardín - A Juan Gil Albert

Individual work / Instructor: Paul Burgi / Site: Guangzhou, China / April 2019

maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past.

Clouds adrift, sleepwalking continents The garden is small, the sky immense 飘忽的云，梦游的陆地 花园狭小，天空辽阔

Site Kindergarten Swimming pool My old home from 6 to 18 years old

B

A'

A

0 B'

5m

1.5m 1.35m 1.2m

4 years old

9 years old

14 years old

18 years old

Different ages, different heights, different horizons. Experiences are changing along with thei

Section A-A'

Section B-B'

ir growing up.

Swimming pool

Still she haunts me, phantomwise, Alice moving under skies Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear, Eager eye and willing ear, Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the summers die: Ever drifting down the stream — Lingering in the golden gleam — Life, what is it but a dream?

— Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

03 Framing [ Public space design on the stream sides ] Individual work Instructor: Poli Matteo Umberto, Paolo Bozzuto Site: Lugano, Switzerland / January 2019

European painting

Traditional Chinese garden

04 Wild Grass [ Land art design ] Individual work Site: Gonglai, China / August 2020

The moon in the water is illusory. When you throw a stone into the water, the water ripples, and the moon's shadow scatters. Look again, the moon in the field is not water but wild grasses. The wild grasses are never-ending and flourish year after year. This project aims to show that the interaction between humans and nature are intertwined and entangled. In the quest for a better life, humankind exploits and builds indiscriminately, but his goal seems as illusory and distant as the moon and water.

Construction Agricultural land Mountain Road River Site area Design Intervention 0

500M

HUMAN INTERVENTION IN THE SAME SCALE

0

500M

ALL THE HUMAN INVASION TOWARDS NATURE THAT SUPPORT THE URBANIZATION

Contemporary Agriculture

Oil Extraction

Lithium Mining

Deforestation

Contemporary Agriculture

Quarrying

Solar Energy

Copper Mining

URBAN

NIZATION

OUR WORLD...

Urban population proportion continue growing

Urban population (% of total population) - World Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million (% of total population) - World Urban population (% of total population) - China Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million (% of total population) - China

Agriculture territories continue expanding

Agricultural land (% of land area) - World Agricultural land (% of land area) - China

Industry and construction expedite the GDP growth

Source: worldbank.org

GDP growth (annual %) - World GDP growth (annual %) - China Industry (including construction), value added (annual % growth) - World Industry (including construction), value added (annual % growth) - China

... IS AN ENDLESS HUMAN INVASION TOWARDS THE EARTH.

Guidelines between crops and wild grass If someone takes care of the vegetations following the boundary defined by the alloy guideline, the wild grass will maintain a clear boundary with the crop. If left unattended, the wild grass will blend in with the crops and the boundary will disappear. The farmland will be abandoned, but still lively.

Concrete It is a metaphor of cities and human constructions, they are places where people congregate and are the main areas of human activity.

Made by aluminium alloy, 10cm wide.

Wild grass Powerful existence that are natural, wild, and not controlled by humans.

Discarded construction materials Discarded building materials are an unnoticed aspect of human construction activity.

Some are discarded outright, while others are used and then become ruins.

舞台在比

跳舞的人

水中的月

每一个镜

太阳光反

幻影成为

城里的远

往事的异

他们拥有

也在同一

月影四散

比风更远的地方

人离开家乡

月亮 倒影在

镜子的碎片里

反射了两次

为另一个的幻影

远行客

异乡人

有同一个月亮

一个夜晚 看见

散 微芒幢幢

05 Realm in a Jar [ Traditional Chinese residential park design ] Individual work / Instructor: Ji Fengquan / Site: Hefei, China / June 2015

三年典郡归，所得非金帛。 天竺石两片，华亭鹤一支。 饮啄供稻粱，包裹用茵席。 遂就无尘坊，仍求有水宅。 东南得幽境，树老寒泉碧。 池畔多竹阴，门前少人迹。 未请中庶禄，且脱双骖易。 岂独为身谋，安吾鹤与石。

—— 白居易《洛下卜居》节选

Hua Ting Crane, the entrance of the residential garden, a representative of the living environment of a famous Chinese literati, Bai Juyi.

Looking at the veranda at the end of the residential garden.

06 Molecular [ Neighbourhood park design ] Locates in a high technology industrial development zone, this community park is a selected demonstration of a bio-medical company, a tempered organic glass company, an electroluminescent lighting company and a wind power generation company.

Individual work / Instructor: Ji Fengquan / Site: Hefei, China / January 2015

07 Zhe Zi Xi [ Modern Chinese kiosk design ] Individual work / Instructor: Zhao Rong Site: Hefei, China / May 2014 Zhe Zi Xi( 折 子 戏 ) is the essential excerpts of traditional Chinese operas; it can be independent and flexible. ‘Zhe Zi’( 折子 ) means ‘a fold’ in Chinese, so I use it as a fundamental element. Its simpleness but not monotony is corresponding to the feature of Zhe Zi Xi. The carved pattern on the wall is the facial makeup of four kinds of roles in Chinese operas: Sheng( 生 ) — a male actor, Dan( 旦 ) — a female actor, Jing( 净 ) — the actor with a painted face, and Chou( 丑 ) — a clown.

08 Everything Flows [ A community park design based on wasted lands in a hybrid suburb ] Individual work / April 2021 Site: Sant’Antonino, Switzerland Instructor: Michael Jakob, Chiara Pradel

Lu(ano

Railway path New tunnel opened in 2020

The Ceneri Bas

Locarno

Sant’Antonino

se Tunnel

Bellinzona

ELEV.1500M

ELEV.210M

T;e (nvasion oM Buman Constructions 1860-2020

Masterplan - Current Situation

Transportant System and Building Fu

unctions

?

T;e T;ird :andscape at Sant- *ntonino) *reas to (ntervene

M 500

B’ B

A A’

Section A-A’

Section B-B’

Outflo

Inflo

B

B’

A

A’ C C’

Section A-A’

Infoo Forebay

Maximun oater leverl

Original ground level

Section B-B’

Section C-C’

Outfoo Stable outKall

3 different scenarios A A’

Mowing every year

Only mowing after the wild grass take over the whole land

Let Them Flow!

Section A-A’

Without mowing

Many years later, when there is no one live or work here anymore, wild grasses will luxuriate everywhere.

The 5ain path on the 5

A

Gravel aggregate

B

C

G. The ;river; co5es H A B C

G D E F

5owed grass

The 5ain path on the wild grass

Pervious concrete

D

E

F

and goes with the rain

H. The narrow path into the wild

Bentonite ClaF OaterprooNng Ae5?rane

Gravel aggregate

B’

C’

D

D’

A

A’

B

C

Section A-A’ Gravel aggregate

Section B-B’

Section D-D’

Pervious concrete

Mowed grass

Section C-C’

Concrete

Pervious concrete

09 Land Revelation - From Ocean to Landscape [ Public space design along the roadside in a countryside ]

Collaborative work / Instructor: Carlotta Fontana / Site: Vignale Monferrato, Italy / February 2020

The history of the land Past Ocean Occupation DEEP OCEAN

SHALLOW OCEAN

Marl

Sandstone

CONTINENT

LAsE

Gypsum

DEEP OCEAN

Mudstone

Calcareus

Stones formed in that period§ these stones will be presented at the end of The Path of Time

The Path of Time Enter into the past from the main village. A pedestrian path telling the story of the evolution

HUMAN INTERVENTION

STEPPE

FOREST

DEEP

Pavement of The Path of Time

clinker brick

granite

wood

resin-boun

Present Land Occupation STEPPE

FOREST

Culture Occupation

STEPPE

FOREST

HUMAN INTERVENTION

marl

of the land, different materials of the pavement represent different period in history.

OCEAN

nd (heavy blue)

LAsE

resin-bound (light blue)

SHALLOW OCEAN

resin-bound (medium blue)

DEEP OCEAN

resin-bound (heavy blue)

Design the grape pillar

Past: wood

Present: concrete

Scheme: concrete painted in blue

e

[1] The transitional platform

[2] The bus station

[3] The church

[1] The transitional platform - From land to ocean A4 A3 A2 A1 B5'

B4'

B3'

B2'

A B1'

B' A' B B1

B2 B3 B4 B5

Section A-A' Sunrise in the east

Section B-B' Sunset in the west

A1'

A2'

A3'

A4'

[1] The transitional platform - From land to ocean The current situation

The design

The shadow analysis

Section A-A'

[1] The transitional platform - From land to ocean

[2] The bus station - Enter into the primitive ocean The current situation

The design

The shadow analysis

Section A-A'

Section B-B'

[3] The church - The end of the path The current situation

The design

The shadow analysis

Cantoni stone with bricks The local people have been using this material to build houses for centuries

Marl

Sandstone

Gypsum

Mudstone

Calcareus marl

A presentation of the stone formed in the ocean period

[3] The church - The end of the path

Section A-A'

Section B-B'

LAND REV

From Ocean t

VELATION

to Landscape

10 Epiphany [ Landscape design with a narrative on an island ]

This term, coined by James Joyce (an important guest on the island), designates the moment in a narrative ideas, or any combination of these have reached critical mass and produce for the reader an explosive recogniti

Brissago Island is a Palimpsest, an evocation of the old-time with different layers. It used to have several famous history, and it recorded traces of their times. We decided to tell their stories with a contemporary landscape des

Visual elements, together with the sounds and smells, form a subtle hint for historical allusions and inspire vis leave them just enough to appreciate the surroundings.

Collaborative work / Instructor: Paul Burgi, Antonio Longo / Site: Brissago Island, Switzerland / April 2019

Historical traces on Brissago Island is the tip of an iceberg.

Brissago Island

Stories on the Island

Lake Maggiore

Alps

80BC

Russian Baroness Daughter Maria

Semaphore station in Sulla's civil wars

Daughter Joan Left the island and never came back

unhabitated

unhabitated

Germa

Refuge for the first Christians

80BC

1885

2019

1885

when events, images, ion of meaning.

s owners and guests in sign approach.

sitors' imagination. We

Past and Present

2019

an bussinessman

Government of Ticino

2019

Historical Events

01 Favorite spot of the

Baroness

02 Roman bath of the

businessman

03 The death and left of

Baroness's daughters

04 The grave of the

Baroness

05 The old well

06 Semaphore station in

Sulla's civil wars

07 Refuge for the first

Christians

Shape

Story

Sound

Smell

01

00

07

06

02 03

04

05

0

30m

01 Favorit

beau

wate

laven

02 Roman

indu

crisp

oran

06 Semap Sulla's civ

sema cold

cypru

07 Refuge

chris

class

incen

te spot of the Baroness 01

utiful view

er waves

nder

02

07

n bath of the businessman

ulgence

00

p ringtone

nge trees

03 06

phore station in vil wars

04

aphore station weapons

us

05

e for the first Christians

stian church

sical piano music

nse

03

04

05

03 The death and left of Baroness's daughters daughters's leave meditative bells

'...then comes the pride o wonderfully well with thei loosens itself and hangs d — The Lady's Diary

eucalyptus

Past

Present

04/03/1910

of the island in the shape of nineteen magnificent Eucalyptus amygdalina... they now look ir white trunks and light green leaves... and when their bark, which they throw off every year, down in long streak, one might imagine oneself walking under the lianas of a virgin forest.'

A historical trace

20/04/2019

It was said that the Russian lady made this pavement in memory of her dead and left daughters.

A girl ran into the groves and disappeared with the birds.

Preliminary interpretation of the genius loci

Final interpretation with contemporary design language

Undergrowth, coppices, meadows, rushes — / everything I tell you is a monologue, / and it's Talking with you is essential and impossible. / Urgent in this hurried life / and postponed to ne — Wisława Szymborska, The Silence of Plants

not you who listens. ever.

Following the sound of the dandenlion bells on parapet, you will reach The Grave of Baroness.

Dandenlion Bells

A senstitive contact link a mother to her daughter.

04 The Grave of Baroness grave of baroness meditative bells roses

'Bench is not only to sit on, but to the visible starting from a specific

— Michael Jakob, The Bench in th

Put a seat beside the grave, share the lady's horizon

'The roses? There are many hundreds of varie whole of it from the permanent coloured orna — The Lady's Diary

o organize, or reorganize the realm of c point that marks a here.'

he Garden

eties, which year after year and almost during the ament to garden and vases.'

The portrait of Baroness Drew by Daniele Ranzoni

The grave of Baroness

I know permanent fading has arrived, I am not in mourn My wish emplaces in the grove of pine Lying below is the sea, looking like a pool at a distant sight Following me inch by inch is the afternoon sunlight Man's time has drawn to an end, human's world still drags on I am caught in between and should take a rest Passersby say the branch bend low Passersby say the branch still grow —— Gu Cheng, Tomb Bed. (translated by the author)

05 The old well old well water drops lemon tree

Past

Present

19/05/1910

'...thus forming an ideal kitchen garden... in the middle, a reservoir has been built...'

— The Lady's Diary

Now the well is completely hid vegetations which also block the

Scheme

20/04/2019

dden among various irrelevant e beauty of surroundings.

Take out irrelevant elements, emphasize the well with the form of a lucid waterdrop falling onto the ground.

Mountains surrounded layer upon layer, like the palimpsest of the historical st The ripple created by falling waterdrop when using the well and watering.

The gravel filled the uneven ground, creating a sense in which the island is emerging from the water.

tories;

I hear the ruin of all space, shattered glass and toppling masonry, and time one livid final flam — James Joyce, Ulysses

me. What’s left us then?

11 Reappraisals [ Research work ]

1 Evaluation of the Dong Villages' Application for World Cultural Heritage 2 A Critical Present of Chengtoushan Archaeological Park 3 Three Types of Urban Villages

Cultural consumption, especially traditional cultural consumption, has become a fanatical obsession in China because of the country's excess capacity. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that "cultural confidence," "cultural heritage conservation" and "rural revitalization" would become the new watchwords of China in the following 50 years. It is like what happened in Europe in the last decades of the 20th century: the need for national identity gave impetus to an archival movement that collected the remains of a forgotten past. However, the "remembered past" is not equated with the "history," "it is always mixed with projected identities, interpretations of the present, and the need for validation."1 1. Aleida Assmann, Cultural Memory and Western Civilization

Evaluation of the Dong V for World Cultural Herita Professional project Project leader: Du Xiaofan

Role in the project: research Site: Guizhou, Guangxi February 2017

Villages' Application age

her, photographer

Industrialized Agriculture A critical present of Chengtoushan Archaeological Park (Excerpt)

Under the filtration of the new media and cultural consumption, rural culture and tradition are being focalised, exaggerated and amused to its deformation.

When we are preserving the past, we are also constructing and producing it in a brand new way. The changes which Hsiao-tung Fei called the process of 'social erosion'1 have been sanitised and given a happy face by tourism and cultural commodity.

This project is not only about building a bridge but also demonstrate an instruction of the relationships between countryside and city. Visitors witness the farming

activities like watching a commercial show. This ne of observation turns rice and farmers in the far into spectacles. This underlying instruction in sp destroying an intimate relationship (although it has a kept fading away) between human and soil. Iron it happens to be a metaphor for the divisive soc today's China.

The inconsistency between the intention an result; the industrial sense on the agricultural ruin inconsiderate construction which tear apart the to and peasants. In this project, Turenscape used

ew way rmland pace is already nically, ciety in

nd the ns; the ourists d their

Design: Turenscape Project area: 0.2km2 Design time: January 2015 Completion: January 2016

usual technique and consistent design language, and misuse their professional's preferences without considering the local particularities.

Unlike judges from World Landscape Of The Year 2017 said, Turenscape's interpretation of this ancient heritage does not maintain 'integrity and authenticity'2. In a world of plastic reproductions, what Turenscape has done in Chengtoushan Archaeological Park, is overlooked the essential and delicate aspects of the historical meaning, and creates an irrelevant cultural product as a useless spectacle.

Address: Li County, Hunan, China Prize: World Architecture Festival, World Landscape Of The Year 2017

1. Hsiao-tung Fei. China's Gentry Essays on Rural-Urban Relations.

(University Of Chicago Press, 1980) 2. WAF report on World Landscape Of The Year 2017 3. Photo on the left: Chenzhou, Hunan, China / April 2017 4. Photo on the right: ©Turenscape

Three Types of Urban Villages [1] Village in the City The largest Urban Village in Guangzhou, near the Central Business District.

August 2017, Shipai Village, Guangzhou [2] Traditionally Village in the City It is being imposed by government for the purpose of con-sturcting a tourist attraction as one of the culture heritages.

September 2016, Chaozong Alley, Changsha [3] Village on the periphery of the City Some of them are near the high-grade residential neighbor-hoods with nice villas.

October 2017, Siwenjing Village, Guangzhou

From o continu of imag consists of pape neither — Italo

one part to the other, the city seems to ue, in perspective, multiplying its repertory ges: but instead it has no thickness, it s only of a face and an obverse, like a sheet er, with a figure on either side, which can be separated nor look at each other.

Calvino, Invisible Cities

1 3

2

PHOTOG

GRAPHS

August 2020, Milan

August 2020, Milan

January 2021, Milan

August 2020, Milan

July 2020, Milan

July 2020, Milan

Jaunary 2020, Milan

August 2019, Munich

December 2018, Shenzhen

February 2017, Loushang Village, Guizhou

August 2019, Innsbruck

February 2019, Locarno

June 2019, Niagara Falls