Student Design… Day 3

One of the great aspects of the Design/Build/Collaborate LAN 498/695 class is the coming together of Undergraduate and Graduate students from various departments.

The design featured today is the brain child of Fang Yu, a graduate student from the Landscape Architecture department. Fang Yu has been part of the design process for the 2013 San Francisco Flower and Garden Show from the initial design charette that was held in November 2012. Her design concept, “Shock & Thinking”, became the impetus for the creation of great designs by the entire class.

“Shock & Thinking” challenges the mainstream idea of what a garden really is. Using the concept of Yin and Yang as it’s inspiration, this somber yet elegant design speaks to the idea of hope amidst tragedy. The entrance to the garden is marked by a  series of concrete pillars that symbolize a concrete jungle of buildings in the ever growing Chinese landscape. A concrete ground plane is uprooted by the emerging planting that lead the garden visitor to the central focal point of the design which is home to a jenga-like structure of concrete blocks that have created a metaphorical prison cell to a thriving pine tree.

The moral of the story is, that despite the harshest conditions, nature continues to thrive.