Shanghai, Neuer Botanischer Garten, New Botanic Garden

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To propose a botanical garden in one of the world's most rapidly expanding cities is of course a gesture that invokes ecological issues regarding sustainability and the conservation of plant life. The German landscape architect's planning group Valentien intend the garden that they are constructing, for Chenshan (Hill Chen) in the Song Jiang District of Shanghai (just outside the city center), to be such a gesture, as well as a model of plant conservation and scientific research development-and one of Shanghai's most ambitious landmarks. The project is enormous, and informed throughout by the architects' ecological imperatives: Energy-saving technologies are to be utilized in the garden's buildings (greenhouses, laboratories and education center) and renewable materials will be deployed throughout. The completion of Chenshan Botanic Garden is planned to coincide with the opening of EXPO 2010 in Shanghai; in the meantime, this book tracks the design process of this unique and bold landscaping project, extrapolating its conceptual infrastructure against an exploration of local conditions and expectations in Shanghai and its surrounding environs.