Field studies: Shenyang architectural university in China enjoys a productive landscape

China's rapid urbanisation is inevitably encroaching upon arable terrain, raising serious issues of food production and sustainable land use. With a population of 1.3 billion, but with only 18 per cent of land capable of sustaining cultivation, China is in danger of squandering one of its most valuable and limited resources. This landscape design project for a university campus in Shenyang City, north-east China, aims to raise awareness of land and farming techniques among college students leaving rural areas to become city dwellers. The incorporation of rice, native plants and crops is not simply an aesthetic conceit; it keeps the landscape productive and acts as an environment for learning.

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The 80 hectare campus houses the architecture department of Shenyang University. The rising popularity of architecture as a university subject forced a move from the department's original city centre location to a roomier suburban site, formerly a rice field. In northern China's cooler climate, rice can be cultivated over a longer growing season and the quality of the crop is widely regarded as superior.

Designed by Turenscape working with the graduate school of landscape architecture at Beijing University, the gridded campus landscape is a totally functional rice paddy, complete with its own irrigation system. Other native crops, such as buckwheat, can also be grown in rotation and native plants line the pathways.

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The working aspect of the landscape draws students and the faculty into a dialogue about sustainable development and food production. Rice produced in the paddies is harvested, packaged and distributed as 'Golden Rice', serving as a keepsake for visitors and a source of identity for the campus. But perhaps most importantly, the project suggests a new form of hybrid landscape that could sustain traditional food production, while supporting new uses, such as the education of China's architects. C. S.

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COPYRIGHT 2007 EMAP Architecture
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning