Rosa Barba Prize 2023: Winning project

Z+T Studio’s Tangshan Quarry Park in Nanjing has beaten ten other finalists to win the Rosa Barba Casanovas International Landscape Architecture Prize 2023 – or Rosa Barba Prize for short. The prize was awarded by a jury at the 12th International Landscape Biennial in Barcelona.

Spread across five continents and ten countries, the finalists of the Rosa Barbar Prize 2023 showcased a wide range of landscape architecture approaches from around the globe. Tangshan Quarry Park stood out with its special narrative on the relationship between nature, humans and non-humans. In addition to the Tangshan Quarry Park, other projects also received awards. Three projects received recognition for their promising approaches: the Prado District of Medejean project in Medellín (Colombia) by Edgar Mazo, Hope in Cape Town (South Africa) by Tarna Klitzner Landscape Architect and West Midlands National Park near Birmingham (England) by Kathryn Moore. The Audience Award went to the park in the Prado district of Medellín by Edgar Mazo and was thus awarded twice.

Z+T Studio transformed a disused quarry into a public park. The Longquan quarry, located 30 kilometers east of Nanjing, was in operation from 1990 to 2004. In 15 years, four large craters were created on the southern side of Tangshan Mountain. The rock faces have height differences of 50 to 250 meters. These were stabilized and the quarry was subsequently made accessible to visitors. The mining history of the site is integrated into the new park’s educational program. Visitors can experience the negative effects of mining through educational elements.

The project covers an area of 40 hectares and consists of four large craters. One crater is used as a spa for a hotel, another for camping and music festivals and the two remaining craters are part of the park. The park is criss-crossed by footpaths and viewing points. The design also includes a meadow, a playground and a lake.

A large part of the project was concerned with increasing the biodiversity that has been lost due to mining. It was important to the authors that users of the park could follow and experience the recovery of the natural area. According to the planning team, the ecological condition of the former quarry has improved significantly since the park was completed in 2019.

Z+T Studio succeeds in translating a well thought-out concept into a poetic, species-rich and educational landscape architecture project, according to the jury of the Rosa Barbar Prize 2023. Human and non-human actors are taken into account. Dynamic processes are uncovered and environmental and social ecology are integrated into the project. The social significance of the project was particularly important to the jury. It had demonstrable potential for positive social change and benefits for different sections of the population. In addition, the regeneration and reclamation of the natural area and the cooperative approach were particularly praised.

The jury for this year’s twelfth Landscape Biennial in Barcelona was made up of landscape architect Martha Fajardo, architect and researcher Julio Gaeta, IFLA President Bruno Marques, landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom and Harvard Professor Gareth Doherty.

225 international projects were submitted. Of these, eleven finalists were selected and presented on the first day of the Biennial at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. The winning projects were announced on the last day of the Biennial. The Rosa Barba Prize is endowed with 15,000 dollars and is awarded to a project built in the five years prior to the call for entries. The winning projects and finalists will be published in the Biennale’s book catalog. The Biennial is organized by the Collegi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC) and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).

The Rosa Barba Prize 2023 was awarded at the twelfth edition of the Landscape Biennial in Barcelona. Read here what the biennial could do even better next time.