HKU Landscape Architecture Team receives Outstanding Award at annual World Landscape Architecture Awards

A team from the Division of Landscape Architecture in the Department of Architecture at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) have been honoured with an Outstanding Award at the annual World Landscape Architecture (WLA) Awards. Recognised under the Student Awards – University Studio category, the accolade celebrates the team’s innovative field-based approach to teaching design and experiential learning.

The World Landscape Architecture (WLA) Awards are among the most respected international honours in the discipline, showcasing excellence in practice, research, and education globally. The University Studio Award specifically recognises top-tier pedagogy, resulting visionary student work, and transformative design studio teaching methodologies from landscape architecture programmes across the globe.

HKU’s award-winning postgraduate studio “Dynamics and Encounters: Fieldwork as Placemaking”, taught by William Shivers, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, Francisco Cevallos Barragan, Lecturer of Landscape Architecture, and Ivan Valin, former scholar of the Division of Landscape Architecture at HKU, stood out to an international panel of jurors for its rigorous fieldwork approach, ecological sensitivity, and bold speculative design strategies. Developed in 2017 to address some of the most pressing spatial, environmental, and urbanisation challenges facing Hong Kong today, the studio challenges students to connect issues across scales, where small changes reflect larger environmental and cultural patterns.

Through hands-on fieldwork in Shap Long on Lantau Island, critical diagramming and mapping of changing natural features, and deep engagement with site-specific conditions, the studio guides students to develop nuanced, forward-thinking landscape interventions. WLA Award’s recognition underscores the studio's success in cultivating critical design thinking, technical rigour, and a deep sense of environmental stewardship among the next generation of landscape architects.

“It's an honour to have our studio programme awarded at such a level,” said Professor Shivers. “This award reflects not only the dedication of our team in developing progressive, site-responsive teaching over the past eight years, but also the exceptional talent and hard work of our students. At the Division of Landscape Architecture, we are committed to equipping all students with the tools and agency needed to address complex climate and urban realities, particularly within Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific region.”

About the HKU Division of Landscape Architecture

Situated within the Department of Architecture at The University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Architecture, the Division of Landscape Architecture offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes focused on training young landscape architects to address the complexities of today’s built environment through spatial design, sustainable solutions, and effective communication skills. The curricula integrate studies of ecology, earth sciences, geography, sociology, cultural studies, the fine arts, architecture, urbanism and engineering. The Division brings together an international faculty and diverse student cohorts to tackle complex environmental and spatial issues across urban, rural, and regional landscapes.

Media enquiries:

Professor William Shivers
Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture
Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, HKU
Email: wshivers@hku.hk
Website: https://www.arch.hku.hk/programmes_/dla/