This year, the International Horticulture Expo is being held in Xi’An, China. Featuring commissioned landscapes from some of the most innovative landscape architects, including Adriaan Geuze, International ASLA, at West 8 and Martha Schwartz, ASLA, the expo has already brought in more than one million visitors and is expected to attract 12 million before it closes in October. A 418 hectare site in the Guangyun Lake area of Xi’An, one of China’s great ancient cities, was developed for the event.
According to the organizers, the theme is “eternal peace and harmony between nature and mankind.” The idea is to use the Expo to show how to ”nurture the future earth, [create ] a city for nature, and co-exist in peace.” 2008 Beijing Olympics emblem designer Chen Shaohua developed a logo for the Expo using the “Chang’an Flower,” which alludes to a Tang-era poem: “Proudly I ride a galloping steed, feasting my eyes on Chang’an flowers at a fleeting speed.”
The Expo features more than 100 individual landscapes from domestic and international governments, organizations, and universities, along with a range of new buildings such as a greenhouse and traditional tower. There are five parks, “major horticultural scenic spots,” and zones such as “Romance by the Ba River, Southeast Asian Street and European Avenue.” China’s “theme” pavilion consists of irregular “tri-wing geometrical objects.”
There’s also a set of “master gardens” from some leading landscape architects. Among these, West 8′s Garden of 10,000 Bridges (see earlier post), Martha Schwartz’s Garden of Labyrinth, as well as other innovative landscapes are worth seeing.
Martha Schwartz, ASLA, creator of Garden of Labyrinth, says “gardens can be regarded as anything but marks of buildings. They exist ubiquitously in every corner of a city. In the Xi’an International Horticultural Expo, I designed a labyrinth with both Chinese and American characteristics. It can be seen as a bold attempt and exploration in expressing western culture by means of Chinese architecture, and the crystallization of the blends of Chinese and American cultures.”
See more images of Garden of Labyrinth.
In Big Trumpet Garden, Martin Cano with Topotek 1, plays with the idea of “digging to China.” He says: “In my childhood, I have been told by adults that if I kept on digging a hole in the earth, I would finally get to China. What a crazy and wonderful idea. I cannot help [but realize] my childhood dream in Xi’an International Horticultural Expo: to dig a mysterious hole in the ground, through which everyone can travel to the other side of the world.”
Loess Garden, created by Danish landscape architect Stig Andersson, is based in Chinese conceptions of earth. “Chinese civilization is build on clay which means the “earth” symbol has profound meaning. Clay also lays the foundation for the prosperity of Xi’an. I will use yellow earth, fountains, stone carvings and clay sculptures to display the climate, botany characteristics, and culture idea of the loess land.”
There’s an almost overwhelming amount of Chinese and international landscape architecture to be seen in the Expo, which will run until October 7.
Image credits: (1) Xi’An International Horticultural Expo, (2) Xi’An International Horticultural Expo, (3) Gen Wang / Martha Schwartz Partners, (4) Xi’An International Horticultural Expo, (5)
