An exploration of meaning in landscape architecture -redesigning Tsim Sha Tsui East waterfront in Hong Kong

Shing, Chak-Yin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/16013 Copy

Description

Title

An exploration of meaning in landscape architecture -redesigning Tsim Sha Tsui East waterfront in Hong Kong

Author(s)

Shing, Chak-Yin

Issue Date

2010-05-18T18:56:08Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Lawson, Laura J.

Department of Study

Landscape Architecture

Discipline

Landscape Architecture

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.L.A.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Waterfront
• Meaning
• Landscape architecture
• Conceptual framework
• Hong Kong

Abstract

Through an exercise to redesign Tsim Sha Tsui East waterfront in Hong Kong, this thesis explores different approaches to achieve meaning through design. A site survey and analysis is first carried out to address functional, social and potentially aesthetic issues on site and to identify objectives for the proposed design. A conceptual framework of the different approaches is then established primarily through comparison and review of five relevant articles in Landscape Journal on the subject of meanings in landscape design. The articles include Marc Treib’s “Must Landscape Mean? Approaches to Significance in Recent Landscape Architecture”, Robert B. Riley’s “From Sacred Grove to Disney World: The Search for Garden Meaning”, Laurie Olin’s “Form, Meaning, and Expression in Landscape Architecture”, Jane Gillette’s “Can Gardens Mean?” and Susan Herrington’s “Gardens Can Mean”. The categories of approaches include: 1. Natural form/ Processes; 2. Genius of place/ History; 3. Zeigeist/ Reference to art; 4. Vernacular/ Material; 5. Experiential/ Perception; 6. Narrative and 7. Didactic. The second, the fifth and the sixth approaches are applied in the redesign to address issues identified in the stage of site survey and analysis. The resulting design is evaluated according to criteria drawn from the articles, including such concepts as accessibility of the meaning, pleasure and integration with existing context and execution. It is the author’s aspiration that what results from such a process is a meaningful design that goes beyond a functional and economically viable solution: one that possesses aesthetic significance.

Graduation Semester

2010-5

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/16013

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2010 Chak-Yin Shing

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