Quarry Garden, Shanghai, China

Quarry Garden by THUPDI and Tsinghua University in Shanghai is situated within the Chenshan Botanical Garden, the largest botanical garden in Shanghai. The 4.26-hectare space that comprised the quarry was operational from the early 1950s until it was abandoned in the 1980s. The landscape on Chen Moountain was left badly scarred, stripping away the surface vegetation and creating habitat fragmentation. As part of municipal improvements for Shanghai’s 2010 World Expo, the government spent an estimated $319 million on the entire botanical garden project. The design’s sensitivity and acceptance of the former quarry’s historical, cultural, and ecological context are largely the reason why it won the 2012 ASLA Honour Award.