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EDSA Wins 2006 ASLA Award05-15-06 | News

EDSA Wins 2006 ASLA Award

The project is part of the first planned ecotourism and ecolodge destination in China and is located in Nankun Mountain Reserve, Guangdong Province, S. China. The Crosswaters Ecolodge was bestowed the Award of Honor in the Analysis and Planning Category.

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The international planning and landscape architecture firm EDSA has recently received the prestigious Professional Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). EDSA?EUR??,,????'???s submission, Crosswaters Ecolodge, was one of only 32 winners selected by the jury out of 500 national and international entries.

Each year, the ASLA Professional Awards honor the best in landscape architecture from around the globe. The jury recognized EDSA?EUR??,,????'???s innovative efforts citing a ?EUR??,,????'??provocative photo essay, clean sketches and even Feng Shui drawings?EUR??,,????'?? which were part of the in-depth environmental, social and metaphysical analysis. ?EUR??,,????'??Sustainable tourism cannot exist without respect for local cultural and spiritual values,?EUR??,,????'?? claims Hitesh Mehta, Project Manager at EDSA and leading authority and researcher on ecolodge design and ecotourism planning. ?EUR??,,????'??We spent quality time studying the ways of the local Keija people, particularly their beliefs, relationships of internal spaces to gardens and philosophical connections with bamboo.?EUR??,,????'??

The Nankun Mountain Reserve lies within the boundaries of the 260 sq km Nankun Shan Nature Reserve and is forested by 30 sq kms of bamboo which serves as the main income generating activity for the 5,000 people who live in the Reserve. The bamboo is harvested for use in scaffolding in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The Crosswaters Ecolodge will also employ bamboo in its construction methods making it the largest in the world with regard to use of bamboo in a commercial project.