Sabrina CHAU

28 Jan 2021 | Session 2 | Self introduction and team meeting

We were asked to give a 2-minute self introduction, which its spontaneity got me cold feet as I rarely introduce myself in a context of landscape professional practice. But as I rewatch my introduction video again, I could feel the genuineness and authenticity of my short speech, very much because it is spoken out of spontaneity instead of a scripted one.

During the team meeting, we have discussed the outline of our presentation on “Are you a Landscape Architect". On the day prior to the discussion, Pearl and I have spent an evening together brainstorming the format of presentation so that we can yield an efficient discussion the next day with the whole team.

04 Feb 2021 | Session 3 | Are you a Landscape Architect

Our team (team orange) is responsible for the presentation on “Are you a Landscape Architect”. We have picked this topic because it is such a diverse topic to discuss and it sets an important foundation for all of our MLA classmates. During the discussion with Barry, he has constantly reminded us of the liability and risk-bearing nature of a Landscape Architect. And the mindset that sitting the professional practice exam shall not be the immediate goal after MLA graduation. Instead, there is an array of job opportunities ahead of us, and we open ourselves up to make choices.

11 Feb 2021 | Session 4 | Where do you work?

Today’s presentation session on “where do you work” presents us an array of job choices after our graduation. Adding on last week’s discussion, Barry has reminded us of the variety of jobs available to us and there is no rush to becoming a chartered Landscape Architect. Gaining different job experiences would be even more valuable to our knowledge and professional practise.

In the Earth Asia’s company visit, Ringo has kindly walked us through the different project types he has worked on. In Earth Asia, most staff are not RLA, but they could still contribute by working in accordance with professional ethics.

18 Feb 2021 | CNY Break

25 Feb 2021 | Session 5 | You are the boss

Today’s presentation session on “you are the boss” demonstrates different bosses’ aspirations and struggles in small, medium and large firms. A boss’ main task is to control risk, maintain income, regulate cash flow as well as marketing; design is no longer the main focus. It is also crucial to note the importance of network, as most jobs are attained through personal relationships instead of marketing. For MLA graduates, of course we shall not be aiming to set up a company once we graduate, but we should be thinking about what we could give back to a company in order to be worthy of the investment in us.

04 March 2021 | Session 6 | Develop or control?

Today’s presentation session on “develop or control” shows us the complexity of the planning process in Hong Kong. The process of Tree Preservation and Tree Removal, Environmental Impact Assessment, Heritage Impact Assessment, etc., are tedious and complicated mechanisms that contain decisions on development and control of a city. The discussion session rings a bell on Ringo’s comment on the actual reality of spending more time on administrations than that spent on actual design.

18 March 2021 | Session 7 | Winning a project

This session mainly consists of 4 parts - selecting a consultant, forming a contract, the consultancy appointment and payment terms. Among all the different kinds of contracts, I personally would like to take part in design & build contracts, because I think that it allows the largest degree of flexibility in design process and administration and a more intimate relationship can be cultivated with the client.

1 April 2021 | Session 9 | Awarding a project

An online site visit to Urbis’ office was carried out today. The presentation by Urbis on the landscape restoration project in South East New Territories Landfill and Extension has widened my horizon on the time-scale of a project. The entire SENT restoration project stretches from 1996 to 2058; major works include designing the landfill, environmental treatment, construct and operate the work, such as managing and capping waste received. Moreover, the presentation has also enriched my understanding on the procedure of the government's environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. I have asked the team about the process of public participation during the EIA. As I have read from an article by Steven Tsang, a Hong Kong scholar on environmental governance, he accused the public participation process as “The involvement of only pro-government scholars; consultation after the fact and not before; lack of transparency in the process and agendas fixed in advance by the government”, which lead to the public’s doubts about the genuineness of the government. The Urbis team has frankly pointed out the loophole in EIA, in which private consultant firms who carry out the EIA are actually hired and paid by the government and is therefore difficult to maintain an “unbiased” stance during the EIA process and certainly would make way for development. On the other hand, Barry has pointed out that this concerns the professional ethics of a landscape designer/architect.

8 April 2021 | Session 10 | Delivering a project

An online site visit to Urbis’ project on the restoration of South East New Territories Landfill and Extension was carried out today. Different phases of restoration were showcased to us, and detailed site-monitoring procedures were demonstrated. It is definitely uneasy to carry out on-site works, but this project has made me look forward to participating in hands-on projects which I could really view and experience the restoration and improvement of the landscape.

15 April 2021 | Session 11 Hire me!

One of the main focuses in this session was deliberating a cover letter when applying for a job, and the biggest take-away is to address specific things that I could offer, which resonates with the ethos of the company. Different cover letters should be written to different companies, a template to all companies is never enough to show respect and genuineness. Based on my cover letter assignment handed in, I have written a more concise version to the company that I am interested in, and have successfully secured a job interview opportunity!

Dear Adrian & Robert

I am writing to express my interest in a full-time position as project landscape designer in your office, Adrian L. Norman. Currently majoring in the Master of Landscape Architecture (HKU), I will receive my degree in July this year (2021). After graduation, I hope to work for an agency like yours, with multi-scaled projects locally, regionally and internationally.

I learned about your company through the landscape design of Mount Pavilia, which demonstrates your company's full confidence in deliberating every detail, competence in creating cohesion between landscape design and architecture. More importantly, the design's attention to users' need certainly differentiates itself as a "community design" from conventional landscape designs. Speaking of community design, it was my pleasure to work as a part-time landscape designer, on a community research on The Revitalisation of Tung O Ancient Trail and Nearby Villages, commissioned by Sustainable Lantau Office. (Please refer to page 8-11 of the portfolio) I believe my experience in deploying Design Thinking in the community design could bring in fresh ideas and different methodologies in approaching design.

In the enclosed document you will find my CV and portfolio that highlight examples of my past work experience and a detailed overview of my relevant skills and projects I have participated in.

I welcome the opportunity to speak with you on how my experience could grow together with your company. Thank you!

Yours Sincerely,

Sabrina

22 April 2021 | Session 11 | Wrap up

A peer evaluation was assigned to us for appraising our groupmates’ contributions as well as self-reflecting on our own participation. While most of the other classmates depended on this evaluation as a grading mechanism, Barry has made it clear to us that it is more about reflecting on the engagement and interaction among group members during the semester. What could have been done differently? I think the mode of communication could have been improved; while the language barrier between Hong Kong and Mainland students is one of the problems, the channel of communication could have been made more inclusive, so that everyone could have equal opportunities in expressing their views.

18 May 2021 | Thesis Final Review

During my thesis final review, one of the guest critics was David Gallacher, who is a Corporate Member and Accredited Monitoring Professional of the HKIEIA, currently working in Aecom. He has shared his personal experience in working on Long Valley’s Nature Park project. As villagers’ agricultural land has to be cleared and resumed for the development of the Nature Park, they are entitled to receive compensation based on their agricultural productivity on the farmland. Interestingly, they are “smart” enough to exploit the compensation mechanism, through planting medium to large trees on the farmland instead of the wetland vegetables, which is comparatively slow-growing, so as to gain the maximum amount of compensation. The intention of the Nature Park was to conserve the wetland in Long Valley, but the process of establishing the park is actually destroying the ecosystem, as the trees planted by villagers are incompatible with the existing wetland ecology. This evoked me to ponder on the scope of professional practice and ethics; what is written in contracts or formally planned in documents is never covering 100% of the impacts induced by any development, but as landscape designer/ landscape architect, we should be constantly challenging ourselves taken nuanced approaches in studying the site, including the people on the site, and the process of carrying out development.

18 May 2021 | My experience in public consultation

Regarding the land use change in Ma On Shan Outline Zoning plan this year, which proposed to rezone a green belt area for development, which is in close proximity to Ma On Shan Country Park. I submitted my comments opposing such rezoning based on environmental and social reasons in December 2020. However, after almost 6 months, what I have received from the Town Planning Board is merely a formulistic response, without any direct feedback regarding my comments. According to David Gallacher mentioned above, he critiqued that the faults in the public participation process is not the lack of transparency, but the unresponsiveness in reacting to comments received.

Email received on 9 April 2021 regarding acknowledgement of receiving my comments on the Ma On Shan Outline Zoning Plan

Email received on 18 May 2021 regarding acknowledgement of receiving my comments on the Ma On Shan Outline Zoning Plan

20 May 2021 | Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth by HKGov

To provide more opportunities for young people to participate in policy discussions and understand government operation, the government has regularized the Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth (“MSSY”) and expanded it to cover more boards and committees. People aged between 18 and 35 may self-nominate to become members of specified government advisory committees through the Scheme. One of the newly added committees is the Advisory Committee on Countryside Conservation, which has attracted my interest. As I have critiqued and reflected on the tick-the-box process of public participation in various parts of my blog above, I think this advisory committee is a good opportunity for me to express my views directly, through becoming part of the institution. And I believe this is also part of the professional ethic of being a landscape architect (to-be), as understanding rationales behind policy formulation and participating in policy-making discussion is an empowering process which could gain me more power of discourse. All in all, I think that this course has encouraged me to pursue career paths that are not necessarily conventional “landscape architecture” industry, but to open up to different opportunities that resonate with my own aspirations of landscape-related options.