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

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.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.L.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Landscape Architecture

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2010

Author dc:creator

• Shing, Chak-Yin

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lawson, Laura J.

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

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2010 Chak-Yin Shing

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

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

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/16013