beijing, china – Renowned Beijing-based landscape architect, urban expert, and professor Kongjian Yu died in a plane crash on September 23rd. The accident occurred near the city of Aquiduana, over the Pantanal wetlands in Brazil, when he and three others, including the pilot and two filmmakers, crashed.62-year-old Kongjian Yu was in Brazil this week to participate in the São Paulo International Architecture Biennial.
Yu was born in 1963 to a farming family in China’s Zhejiang Province, where he worked on farms as a child and became acquainted with the power of water during the monsoon season.
He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in landscape architecture from Beijing Forestry University, and his doctorate from Harvard University in 1995. In 1997, he returned to China and joined the faculty at Peking University. There, he founded the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and served as its dean.
In 1998, Yu founded his own firm, Turenscape, and has carried out numerous significant projects in China and around the world. These include notable works such as the Sanya Mangrove Park in Sanya, Hainan Province, the Nanchang Fish Tail Park in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, and the Benjakitti Forest Park in Bangkok.
Kongjian Yu’s sudden and tragic death will forever be remembered for his work.
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