2024 World Landscape Architecture Awards Recognizes Seven Sasaki Projects

Built – Urban Design Category Awardees 

Bai’etan Exhibition Center – Honor Award

China’s first SITES Platinum project, Bai’etan Exhibition Center has transformed the formerly industrial Julong Bay area into a vibrant and resilient mixed-use district. The design team developed a series of innovative approaches which integrated ecological, social, and economic sustainability to embrace the site’s cultural identity, rehabilitate its degraded ecology, and reduce the project’s carbon footprint, introducing a new public waterfront with a variety of spaces and programs to serve nearby communities.

Conceptual – Large Landscape Design Category Awardees 

Printers Hill Master Plan – Merit Award

Through the preservation and transformation of the site’s historic structures and existing landscape, Printers Hill Master Plan transforms a 19th-century healthcare campus into a dynamic, mixed-use district. The master plan offers the opportunity to create a regionally connected district that contributes ecologically, economically, socially, and culturally to its context. This stewardship will create a place of inspiration and community pride, stitching an authentic new district into the existing city fabric.

Conceptual – Analysis and Planning Category Awardees 

Huangshi Bay Park Master Plan – Merit Award

Sasaki’s master plan for a 981-acre coastal park integrates the restoration of marine ecosystems with an upgrade of aquaculture industries and introducing recreational programs into a multi-layered system. Protecting the site against environmental risks while ensuring cultural and economic success, the plan positions Huangshi Bay Coastal Park as an innovative model for coastal rehabilitation in China.

The Ellinikon Park – shortlisted

The 600-acre site is poised to become one of the most significant public spaces in Athens—an ambitious goal for a city celebrated for its iconic architecture and urban design. It will set a new standard for ecological restoration and will model a cutting-edge approach for the design, programming, and funding of future public parks across the world. Once complete, the park will become the social heart of Athens and will provide novel experiences for visitors in a city that does not have a public park at this scale.

Conceptual – Urban Design Category

Science Island at Wuhan Optics Valley – Honor Award

In the new era of urban development, the Optics Valley South Core aims to develop a multifunctional space integrating technology, culture, entertainment, and residential quality. The project incorporates landscape-oriented urban design combined with a 3xP strategy of Prevention, Protection, and Preparation. Reflecting on the past while envisioning the future, the project serves as a model for safe, healthy, resilient, and livable spaces.

Tec de Monterrey Mexico City Campus Master Plan – shortlisted

Following the devastating 2017 earthquake in Mexico City, an integrated planning process was set in motion to create a vibrant 21st century innovation ecosystem for the Institution’s 34 hectares of land. The urban design framework is centered around a landscape gesture that links the academic core, a mixed use innovation district, and the neighborhood. This interconnected public realm network establishes three primary open spaces focused on engaged outdoor learning, a public park programmed to support community integration, and a series of shared outdoor recreation areas that foster wellness and healthy living.

Huishan Forest Park – shortlisted

The Huishan Mountain Forest Park and Foothill Area aims to create a renewed model for the integration of mountain and city. By addressing visibility, accessibility, and identifiability through strategic planning and design, Huishan Mountain will become a central, vibrant, and recognizable part of Wuxi’s cultural and urban fabric, serving as both a green heart and a symbol of the city’s heritage.

Congratulations to all the design teams for this recognition by World Landscape Architecture! Visit the WLA website here to read more about this year’s winners and shortlists.