NUS MLA Exhibition Explores the Socio-Ecological Landscapes of Chiang Mai at 2025 Design Week
Students from the Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) program exhibited their studio projects at the 2025 Chiang Mai Design Week, a dynamic platform for sharing knowledge and demonstrating the transformative potential of design.
Led by by Dr Xiaoxuan Lu and entitled Politics of Conservation: Navigating the Socio-Ecological Territories of Chiang Mai, the NUS MLA exhibition aims to raise public awareness and stimulate dialogue about natural and cultural landscape conservation. It showcases eleven landscapes architecture strategies that explore alternative conservation approaches within the context of Chiang Mai’s ongoing pursuit of UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
An opening reception was held on Friday, December 12th, 2025, and was attended by the general public and representatives from multiple institutions involved in Chiang Mai’s conservation practices. These included the Faculty of Architecture (Chiang Mai University), the Forest Restoration Research Unit (Chiang Mai University), the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation, JaiBaan Studio, Mae Kha City Lab, and North Forest Studio.
At the opening reception, MLA 2 students Shruthakeerthi Karthikeyan and Lydia Li Mu presented to the public on behalf of the exhibition team. They offered an overview of the exhibition and also presented their individual projects.
Shrutha’s project transported visitors to Chiang Mai’s uplands. Entitled Spalding Landscapes: Exploring the Politics of Plant Belonging Through Decay, Fungal Growth, and Mycelium Networks, it challenges the conventional conservation binary of “native versus non-native” species by offering an alternative narrative of the landscape along the Doi Pui Peak Nature Trail.
In contrast, Lydia’s project focuses on Chiang Mai’s lowland in the Ping River valley. Entitled Phaya Kham Flood Festival: Celebrating and (Re)interpreting Cultural-Ecological Resilience Along an Ancient Irrigation Canal, it approaches flooding as a temporal and communal process that facilitates collective and evolutionary forms of conservation.
The exhibition was on display at the Lanna Architecture Centre from 12 December 2025 to 12 January 2026.
Exhibitors
Master of Landscape Architecture
Department of Architecture
National University of Singapore
Doi Pui Peak Nature Trail: Shruthakeerthi Karthikeyan, Whaley Yi Wang
Wat Pha Lat Monk’s Trail: Jadel Zhang Xinyao, Shu Yao
Mae Kha Canal: Kejie Li, Ryan Chen Zhuoran, Emily Du Xinyang, Jiaying Chen
Ping River & Phaya Kham: Vivian Qi Kexin, Yulia Zhou Yao, Lydia Li Mu
Curated by Dr Xiaoxuan Lu