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Liu Jiakun

Liu Jiakun’s work across Chengdu, Chongqing, and Lishui is defined by a tactile tension between rough-hewn, highly textured masonry or board-formed concrete and moments of delicate structural lightness, such as subtly upturned roof slabs and external staircases that zigzag across solid brick gables. This portfolio serves as a precise reference for detailing cultural and academic spaces where heavy, raw-cast exterior envelopes must transition into soft, colored interior volumes or negotiate existing mature trees with carefully woven overhead pergolas.

Elevated view of Songyang Culture Neighborhood by Liu Jiakun, featuring stone paths and timber pergolas under mature trees.

Songyang Culture Neighborhood

Lishui, People's Republic of China · 2020

Photo · Arch-Exist

A precedent for integrating contemporary timber-and-steel pergolas and stone paving within a mature wooded courtyard to create a cohesive cultural neighborhood public space.

What we like about this project
The pergolas are carefully woven around existing mature tree trunks without disrupting their growth.

Materials

  • gravel
  • stone-paving
  • timber
  • steel
  • concrete

Visual identifiers

  • wooded-courtyard
  • timber-pergola
  • stone-paving
  • mature-trees
  • gravel-path

Style tags

  • contemporary
  • regionalist
  • nature-integrated

Visual tags

  • urban-regeneration
  • pocket-park
  • courtyard-design
  • pedestrian-zone
  • landscape-integration
  • china
Geometry
An organic layout of pathways, stone plazas, and linear timber-and-steel pergolas nestled between mature trees and existing low-rise buildings.
Structural guess
Post-and-beam timber and steel frames supporting lightweight pergola roofs.
Spatial scale
Intimate pedestrian scale with low-slung pergolas and narrow pathways designed for walking.
Lighting
Diffused daylight filtered through a dense overhead tree canopy, casting soft shadows on the ground plane.
Atmosphere
A serene, shaded sanctuary within an urban fabric, blending natural forest elements with structured pathways.
Environmental context
An urban neighborhood pocket park or cultural courtyard surrounded by traditional low-rise buildings.
Spatial experience
The design creates a shaded, meandering journey through a wooded courtyard, transitioning from open stone plazas to sheltered walkways under a canopy of trees.
Composition rhythm
The repeating vertical lines of tree trunks and pergola posts create a rhythmic verticality that contrasts with the horizontal stone and gravel pathways.
Style reading
Contemporary regionalist landscape
Program
Cultural neighborhood public park
Perspective
Aerial/Site
Discipline
landscape
Materials
gravel, stone-paving, timber, steel, concrete
Visual identifiers
wooded-courtyard, timber-pergola, stone-paving, mature-trees, gravel-path
Style tags
contemporary, regionalist, nature-integrated
Visual tags
urban-regeneration, pocket-park, courtyard-design, pedestrian-zone, landscape-integration, china
Geometry
An organic layout of pathways, stone plazas, and linear timber-and-steel pergolas nestled between mature trees and existing low-rise buildings.
Structural guess
Post-and-beam timber and steel frames supporting lightweight pergola roofs.
Spatial scale
Intimate pedestrian scale with low-slung pergolas and narrow pathways designed for walking.
Lighting
Diffused daylight filtered through a dense overhead tree canopy, casting soft shadows on the ground plane.
Atmosphere
A serene, shaded sanctuary within an urban fabric, blending natural forest elements with structured pathways.
Environmental context
An urban neighborhood pocket park or cultural courtyard surrounded by traditional low-rise buildings.
Spatial experience
The design creates a shaded, meandering journey through a wooded courtyard, transitioning from open stone plazas to sheltered walkways under a canopy of trees.
Composition rhythm
The repeating vertical lines of tree trunks and pergola posts create a rhythmic verticality that contrasts with the horizontal stone and gravel pathways.
Style reading
Contemporary regionalist landscape
Program
Cultural neighborhood public park
Perspective
Aerial/Site
Discipline
landscape

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Directories

  • Firms
  • Patterns

AI Native Apps

  • AI Mode Search
  • SoftMarket
  • 2nd Brain

About HappyCluster

  • About
  • How it works
  • Contact

Connect

  • Waitlist
  • X
  • GitHub

Legal

  • Privacy
  • Terms

HappyCluster

© 2026

Elevated view of Songyang Culture Neighborhood by Liu Jiakun, featuring stone paths and timber pergolas under mature trees.

Songyang Culture Neighborhood

Lishui, People's Republic of China · 2020

Photo · Arch-Exist

A precedent for integrating contemporary timber-and-steel pergolas and stone paving within a mature wooded courtyard to create a cohesive cultural neighborhood public space.

What we like about this project
The pergolas are carefully woven around existing mature tree trunks without disrupting their growth.

Materials

  • gravel
  • stone-paving
  • timber
  • steel
  • concrete

Visual identifiers

  • wooded-courtyard
  • timber-pergola
  • stone-paving
  • mature-trees
  • gravel-path

Style tags

  • contemporary
  • regionalist
  • nature-integrated

Visual tags

  • urban-regeneration
  • pocket-park
  • courtyard-design
  • pedestrian-zone
  • landscape-integration
  • china
Geometry
An organic layout of pathways, stone plazas, and linear timber-and-steel pergolas nestled between mature trees and existing low-rise buildings.
Structural guess
Post-and-beam timber and steel frames supporting lightweight pergola roofs.
Spatial scale
Intimate pedestrian scale with low-slung pergolas and narrow pathways designed for walking.
Lighting
Diffused daylight filtered through a dense overhead tree canopy, casting soft shadows on the ground plane.
Atmosphere
A serene, shaded sanctuary within an urban fabric, blending natural forest elements with structured pathways.
Environmental context
An urban neighborhood pocket park or cultural courtyard surrounded by traditional low-rise buildings.
Spatial experience
The design creates a shaded, meandering journey through a wooded courtyard, transitioning from open stone plazas to sheltered walkways under a canopy of trees.
Composition rhythm
The repeating vertical lines of tree trunks and pergola posts create a rhythmic verticality that contrasts with the horizontal stone and gravel pathways.
Style reading
Contemporary regionalist landscape
Program
Cultural neighborhood public park
Perspective
Aerial/Site
Discipline
landscape
Materials
gravel, stone-paving, timber, steel, concrete
Visual identifiers
wooded-courtyard, timber-pergola, stone-paving, mature-trees, gravel-path
Style tags
contemporary, regionalist, nature-integrated
Visual tags
urban-regeneration, pocket-park, courtyard-design, pedestrian-zone, landscape-integration, china
Geometry
An organic layout of pathways, stone plazas, and linear timber-and-steel pergolas nestled between mature trees and existing low-rise buildings.
Structural guess
Post-and-beam timber and steel frames supporting lightweight pergola roofs.
Spatial scale
Intimate pedestrian scale with low-slung pergolas and narrow pathways designed for walking.
Lighting
Diffused daylight filtered through a dense overhead tree canopy, casting soft shadows on the ground plane.
Atmosphere
A serene, shaded sanctuary within an urban fabric, blending natural forest elements with structured pathways.
Environmental context
An urban neighborhood pocket park or cultural courtyard surrounded by traditional low-rise buildings.
Spatial experience
The design creates a shaded, meandering journey through a wooded courtyard, transitioning from open stone plazas to sheltered walkways under a canopy of trees.
Composition rhythm
The repeating vertical lines of tree trunks and pergola posts create a rhythmic verticality that contrasts with the horizontal stone and gravel pathways.
Style reading
Contemporary regionalist landscape
Program
Cultural neighborhood public park
Perspective
Aerial/Site
Discipline
landscape

Related in this portfolio