General Design Category

Award of Excellence

Dark Matter

John Whitaker, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Jacqueline Margetts
Washington University in St. Louis


Dark Matter investigates organic reduction as a means of promoting biological and cultural diversity in urban cemeteries. Dissolution of the body prior to interment foregrounds the transference of matter to adjacent life; the memorials embodiment of place is expanded to include natural systems and ecological productivity. The funerary landscape is decentralized from static site of memorial to evolving memorial system that invites engagement with the living.

Honor Awards

Breaking Barriers

Xiao (Phoebe) Cheng, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Gina Ford, FASLA; Maggie Hansen, ASLA
University of Texas at Austin

Coral Winter

Chen Liu, Student ASLA; Pengcheng Yu; Yu Zhang; Yaoyuan Zhang; Mingzhe Dong; Yajie Shang; Shuna Wu
Faculty Advisors: Shoushuai Du; Xiaotian Li; Bing Liu
Shandong Agriculture University, Jiangnan University, Hainan University

Finding Beauty in the Commonplace

Benjamin Nardi, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Kimberlee Douglas, ASLA; Richard Newton, ASLA; Matthew Tucker
Thomas Jefferson University

The Foodway

Beau Burris; Ben Magee, Associate ASLA; Jacob Costello, Associate ASLA; Max Frank, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Ken McCown
University of Arkansas

Sound Design: Reconnecting the Coastal Edge

Xinyu Li, Student ASLA; Xinyi Liu, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Andrew Fox, FASLA
North Carolina State University

Residential Design Category

Award of Excellence

Informality as Filter: A Renewed Land Sharing Plan for Khlong Toei Community

Tina Yun Ting Tsai, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Niall Kirkwood, FASLA; Kotchakorn Voraakhom, ASLA
Harvard University Graduate School of Design


This project aims to redefine Bangkok informal settlements as a means to tackle urban sanitary and flooding problems. The study site --Khlong Toei Community is the largest complex of Bangkok informal settlement and is currently facing issues such as population density, lack of accessibility to drinking water and eviction from Port Authority of Thailand (PAT). Instead of massive relocation, the intervention of a new land sharing plan that improves water supply and self-help food production will propel “in-depth tourism” that preserves local culture and “the right to stay with mutual benefits” between the city government and local residents.

Urban Design Category

Award of Excellence

Rethinking a Fundamental Human Act: Landscape as a Solution for Open Defecation

Xiaoyu Zheng, Student ASLA; Kate Noel, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Alpa Nawre, ASLA
University of Florida


524 million people practice open defecation in India. Open defecation perpetuates the vicious cycle of disease and poverty leading to child mortality, malnutrition, social inequity, and violence against women and girls. In this context, there are few spaces of conscious design intervention that provide both practical and aesthetic value. We explore how landscape architects can improve the lives of people that lack basic facilities through our design of the built environment. Our goal is everyone will have access to personal toilets in each household and public toilets in community spaces.

Honor Awards

Cooling Down

Pan Chen, Student ASLA; Erqi Meng; Siqi Rao
Faculty Advisors: Suzanne Mathew
Rhode Island School of Design

Eco-Agro-Urbanism: Envisioning a Productive Urban Future for Villa Nueva, Guatemala

Xu Han; Zihan Zhu, Student ASLA; Xiaofan Wu, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: David Gouverneur
University of Pennsylvania, Stuart Weitzman School of Design

Living Between Emergency and Normalcy—Rethinking the Versatility of Water in the WUI City of High Bushfire Risk

Guang Yang, Student International ASLA; Pan Shuai; Lanxin Zhong, Student International ASLA; Lihao Zhu
Faculty Advisors: Lisa MacKenzie
The University of Edinburgh, Politecnico di Milano, and University of Sheffield

Analysis and Planning Category

Award of Excellence

West Oakland: From T.O.D to F.O.D | Food Oriented Development on Transportation Legacy

Huiwen Shi, Student International ASLA; Lide Li, Student Affiliate ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Tommy Haddock
University of California, Berkeley


West Oakland has a rich history of industry, social activism, immigration, blending of cultures, and urban developments. Unfortunately, the once buzzing industrial-based district has fallen into deprivation because of the 1960s’ Transit-Oriented Development, which became a force of segregation, leading to a food desert, an unhealthy environment, and failures to provide residents with equal opportunities. Meanwhile, gentrification became a growing threat, due to the economic development of the surrounding Bay Area, which is closing in on the local West Oakland communities.

Honor Awards

Standing with Nature: Resilience Opportunities from Current, Sea-level Rise and Typhoon

Wei Lei, Student International ASLA; Jiaxin Wen; Yinong Li; Yurong Xue; Shimin Zheng ; Tingting Li , Erke Zhang
Faculty Advisors: Jie He
Tianjin University, School of Architecture

Weaving the Unseen - Integrating Urban Wildlife Habitats

Vivin Shankar, Student International ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Anjali Jain; Priyal Shah
Center for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) University

Research Category

Award of Excellence

Stub: Atlas of Drylands Design

Yuliang Jiang, Student ASLA; Jing Wu, Student ASLA; Ai-Ju Liu, Student ASLA; Yihe Wang, Student ASLA; Xiaolu Song, Student ASLA; Shuwei Liu; Runhao Zhu, Student ASLA; Jiayu Liang; Clara Yoshihara, Student ASLA; Yashoda Godhani, Student ASLA; Sneha Ravani, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Hadley Arnold
University of Southern California


Eleven students set out to retrieve, document, and analyze the world’s traditional water systems. The first goal was to study how these systems functioned physically, how they operated socially, and how they organized landscapes and societies spatially. The second was to imagine new variations of these old systems and test them on the urban landscapes of water-stressed Los Angeles. The premise? By building a richer, more robust lexicon of pre-carbon drylands design systems, we might build capacity, in ourselves and others, for inspired design vision in a post-carbon world.

Honor Awards

Landscape Design for Carbon Sequestration

Deanna Lynn, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Bart Johnson
University of Oregon

Resilience Through Regeneration: The Economics of Repurposing Vacant Land with Green Infrastructure

Rui Zhu, Student ASLA; Xueqi Song; Dingding Ren, Yangdi Wang
Faculty Advisors: Galen D. Newman, ASLA
Texas A&M University

Communications Category

Award of Excellence

Jia: Bringing Landscape Architecture to Webtoons

July Aung, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: César Torres-Bustamante
Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo


Jia is a story that raises awareness about the ever-evolving issues of sustainability, resource exhaustion, waste, conservation, and regeneration from the lens of a small family restaurant. It aims to teach readers that the little things that regular people do can contribute to making the environment a healthier place to live because they focus on ethical issues over personal and monetary interests.

Honor Awards

652 To YOU || An Approach for a Collective Voice

John Dustin Toothman, Student ASLA; Wesley Lamberson; Whitney Brothers
Faculty Advisors: Brad Collett, ASLA
University of Tennessee at Knoxville

Invisible Guangzhou—A Historic Environment Education Project

Yuwei Guo, Student ASLA; Chuxin Feng; Jielin Chen; Xuening Wang
Faculty Advisors: Wei Gao; Fanying Jiang
South China Agricultural University

Student Collaboration Category

Award of Excellence

Designing a Green New Deal

Leila Bahrami; Chelsea Beroza; Allison Carr; Yvette Chen; Zachery Hammaker, ASLA; Sara Harmon; Tiffany Hudson; Katie Lample; John Michael LaSalle; Rob Levinthal; Katherine Pitstick, ASLA; Joshua Reaves; Will Smith; Jesse Weiss; Rosa Zedek, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Billy Fleming, ASLA
University of Pennsylvania, Stuart Weitzman School of Design


According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) we have less than 12 years before we reach 1.5 degrees Celsius of planetary warming. Crossing this threshold would lock in irreversible and catastrophic changes in Earth’s oceanic and atmospheric systems. It was in response to these dire warnings that, on February 7, 2019, Senator Ed Markey and House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced House Resolution 109 (HR-109). HR-109 is a sweeping plan to become carbon-neutral by 2050, through just, green job creation and is commonly referred to as the Green New Deal.

Honor Awards

Custom Living Wall from Industrial Waste-stream

Haoyue Yang, Student ASLA; Panwang Huo; Niti Tataria, Student ASLA; Karishma Joshi, Student ASLA; Yuanjia Yang, Student ASLA; Yu Shi, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Bruce Dvorak; Ahmed Ali
Texas A&M University

Lehigh Valley Catalyst: Reconnecting Communities to the Lehigh River’s History and Ecology

Melita Schmeckpeper; Shengyuan Zheng, Student ASLA; Shuyang Wang; Xiaofan Wu, Student ASLA; Margarida Gomes Mota; Lucy Whitacre; Josh Ketchum; Elisavet Kiretsi; Cari Krol, Student ASLA; A. L. McCullough, Student ASLA; Farre Nixon; Linghui Liao
Faculty Advisors: Ellen Neises
University of Pennsylvania, Stuart Weitzman School of Design

The LivingRoom: A Freeware Learning Garden Focused on Health, Food, and Nutrition Education

Simon Powney, Student ASLA; Tripp Dunn; Huang Zhaoheng; Ben Gunter, Student ASLA; Jacob Felkins; Cody Eades; Walter Hogue; Matthew Stanton; Clint Kiser; Logan Sullivan; Nada Aziz; Natalie Bowers; Brandon Burton; Oriey Glenn; Jane Kent
Faculty Advisors: Cory Gallo, ASLA
Mississippi State University

Student Community Service Category

Award of Excellence

Le Garden: A Space for the Welfare and Happiness of Seniors and the Community

Peng Chen, Student International ASLA; Yichen Lou; Kun Qian; Zhengwei Xing; Yunxin Han; Wenjun Liu; Hongbo Chen; Wenqi Chen; Xinmiao Zhu; Lang Qin; Xueying Liu; Yu Leng; Xinya Hu; Suheng Yao
Faculty Advisors: Hong Chen; Yuanyuan Su; Zouqi Zhao; Jin Jin; Gang Xu
Anhui University, Department of Design, College of Art


As China is rapidly entering into an aging society, the traditional home-based care model is facing huge challenges. There is a growing need for better designed community programs to serve the seniors and their families within the environment they live. This project Le Garden, aims at creating a healthy and comfortable outdoor space to accommodate interactive, recreational, and educational activities for seniors, to strengthen the bonds between seniors and their families, and to revitalize the social network within and outside of the community.

Honor Awards

Co-created Campus: Participation Design in Action

Kangfu Zhuo; Hao Zhang, Student International ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Dihua Li
Peking University

Sharing Place: Bastu, Food, Play, and the Common Grounds for Cultural Exchange

Yuansi Cai, Student ASLA; Franchesca Carerra, Student ASLA; Sidney Greenslate, Student ASLA; Daniel James, Student ASLA; Yinyue Jiang; Kendra Klenz, Student Affiliate ASLA; Zhaoxiang Hu; Heather Parker, Student ASLA; Tyler Poland; Allie Rowe, Student ASLA; Alicia "Caro" Rubio; Peter Samuels, Student ASLA; Bennet Song; Leah Widmer; Wenshuo Zhang, Student ASLA
Faculty Advisors: Daniel Winterbottom, FASLA; Luka Jelusic; Jonas Lilja; Robert Curran
University of Washington