2026 February 5 (Thu) - 2026 February 6 (Fri) | (In-Person) | Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 58 Quincy St.

[Symposium] Designers of Mountain and Water: Alternative Landscapes for a Changing Climate

Chair: JUNGYOON KIM, Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design

Chair: NICHOLAS HARKNESS, Modern Korean Economy and Society Professor of Anthropology; Director, Korea Institute, Harvard University

More information and a livestream window will be available on the day of the event here.

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Registration is not required but appreciated for planning purposes.

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This event is open to the public, and non-HUID holders are welcome to attend.

Abstract:
The Sinographic compound (山水), denoting “mountain and water,” is widely shared across many Asian contexts, with different regional traditions and approaches. As shanshui in China, sansui in Japan, and sansu in Korea, the term has historically referred to creative artistic and philosophical visions of the natural world, combining the vital elements of a fully dynamic landscape. With climate change underway, what contemporary elements and dimensions of nature are necessary for designing and building sustainable spaces for human habitation and flourishing? Contemporary landscape architects from Northeast and Southeast Asia are trying to answer this question by rethinking the relation between social and natural forms. Their aim is to design habitable futures at the intersection of the two.

This conference will feature leading landscape architects and scholars from China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, as well as Australia and the US, to discuss the perspectives, histories, politics, and the most compelling projects of sustainable design in the Asian context.

This conference accompanies the exhibition Designers of Mountain and Water, which will be on display in the Druker Design Gallery from January 20 to April 4, 2026. Curated by Jungyoon Kim, Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at the GSD, the exhibition features more than 45 works of landscape architecture by 23 practices in Asia.

Schedule:

All events will be held in Gund Hall’s Piper Auditorium unless otherwise noted.

*Day 1: Thursday, February 5, 2026

6:30pm - 7:20pm Opening Remarks

Sarah M. Whiting, Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture, Harvard GSD

Gary Hilderbrand, Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture, Peter Louis Hornbeck Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Harvard GSD

Jungyoon Kim, Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Harvard GSD

Nicholas Harkness, Director, Korea Institute, Modern Korean Economy and Society Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University

7:20pm - 8:00pm Keynote

Marisa Chearavanont, Founder and Chairman of Khao Yai Art Forest and Bangkok Kunsthalle, Chef Cares Foundation; Special Advisor to Senior Chairman of CP Group

8:00pm - 9:30pm Reception (at Druker Design Gallery)

*Day 2: Friday, February 6, 2026

9:00am - 10:30am Panel: Cultures of Nature

SPEAKERS

• Eugene Wang, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art; Founding Director of Harvard FAS CAMLab, Harvard University

• Yukio Lippit, Jeffrey T. Chambers and Andrea Okamura Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University

• Jinah Kim, George P. Bickford Professor of Indian and South Asian Art and Professor of South Asian Studies, Harvard University

• Sun Joo Kim, Harvard-Yenching Professor of Korean History, Harvard University

MODERATOR

• Nicholas Harkness, Modern Korean Economy and Society Professor of Anthropology; Director of the Harvard Korea Institute, Harvard University

10:45am - 12:10pm Panel: The Work of Mountain and Water

SPEAKERS

• Heike Rahmann, Senior Lecturer, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, and Director of the Technology and Innovation Working Program, IFLA World

• Youngmin Kim, Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Seoul, Republic of Korea.

• Kotchakorn Voraakhom, Chairwoman of the Climate Change Working Group (IFLA World), CEO and Founder of Landprocess, Bangkok, Thailand

MODERATOR

• Jillian Walliss, Associate Professor in Landscape Architecture, Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne, Australia, and Co-Director of the Ethics, Equity and Social Justice Group, IFLA World

1:30pm - 3:00pm Panel: Aesthetics of Sustainability

SPEAKERS

• Myeong-Jun Lee, Associate Professor, Hankyong National University, Republic of Korea

• Yu Han Goh, Director, Salad Dressing, Malaysia/Singapore

• Chisa Toda, Partner, studio on site, Tokyo, Japan

MODERATOR

• Jungyoon Kim, Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, GSD, Harvard University; Founding Principal, PARKKIM, Republic of Korea & Boston

3:15pm - 4:40pm Panel: Beyond Sansu, Sansui, Shanshui

SPEAKERS

• Dong Wang, Head of the Ecological City Studio, Turenscape, Beijing, China

• Shunsaku Miyagi, Founding Partner of PLACEMEDIA, Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan

• Yoonjin Park, Founding Principal, PARKKIM, Seoul, Republic of Korea

MODERATOR

• Gary Hilderbrand, Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture, Peter Louis Hornbeck Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Harvard University; Founding principal of Reed Hilderbrand

4:40pm - 5:10pm Panel: Closing Remarks

Symposium, organized by the Graduate School of Design and Korea Institute, Harvard University

Supported by the Harvard University Asia Center and the Southeast Asia Initiative, Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard-Yenching Institute, Kim Koo Forum at the Korea Institute, and Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. The project is also supported by Daniel Urban Kiley Exhibition Fund at the GSD.