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

Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago

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 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 May 15, 2026. Curated by Jungyoon Kim, Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at the GSD, the exhibition features more than 55 works of landscape architecture by 23 practices in Asia.

Panel | Cultures of Nature

SPEAKERS:
Eugene Wang, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art; Founding Director of Harvard FAS CAMLab, Harvard University
Jinah Kim, George P. Bickford Professor of Indian and South Asian Art and Professor of South Asian Studies, Harvard University
Yukio Lippit, Jeffrey T. Chambers and Andrea Okamura Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University
Sun Joo Kim, Harvard-Yenching Professor of Korean History, Harvard University

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

00:00 Panel Introduction by Nicholas Harkness
05:16 Presentation by Eugene Wang
18:19 Presentation by Jinah Kim
29:19 Presentation by Yukio Lippit
42:00 Presentation by Sun Joo Kim
54:42 Panel Discussion and Q+A

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