Air Disaster in Brazil: One of the world’s top architects, Chinese Kongjian Yu, killed — He was the creator of “Sponge Cities”

Chinese designer Kongjian Yu, globally recognized arsenic the “father” of the sponge city concept, was killed successful a plane crash successful Brazil along with the different 3 passengers, the section constabulary announced today.

The 62-year-old Kongjian Yu was a starring fig successful sustainable municipality development. The “sponge city” conception revolves astir replacing municipality surfaces with porous materials and greenish areas to amended sorb h2o into the ungraded and mitigate flood risks.

According to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA), the different 3 victims were Brazilian filmmakers Luís Fernando Feres da Cunha Feres and Rubens Crispim Junior, some documentary directors and producers, and the aviator and proprietor of the aircraft.

The origin of the accident, which occurred Tuesday nighttime successful a agrarian country of the Pantanal—a immense wetland successful the confederate Amazon, successful the authorities of Mato Grosso bash Sul (central-western Brazil)—has not yet been determined, according to the police.

Kongjian Yu arrived successful Brazil successful aboriginal September to enactment successful the São Paulo Contemporary Art Biennial and was traveling to the Pantanal to movie a documentary with the 2 filmmakers. “His conception of ‘sponge cities’ has been applied successful much than 1,000 projects successful 250 cities,” added the CAU (Council of Architects), emphasizing that the designer “advocated nature-based solutions to code municipality flooding and the impacts of the clime crisis.”

Yu participated successful the São Paulo International Architecture Biennial programme past week. According to the paper Estadão, the Chinese prof subsequently joined a travel with filmmakers who were making a documentary astir his work.

Yu gained planetary designation arsenic an designer and municipality planner erstwhile the Chinese authorities adopted his sponge metropolis concept, utilizing nature-based solutions to sorb and clasp h2o alternatively of relying connected factual infrastructure that diverts it. His thought has since been implemented successful hundreds of locations crossed China, arsenic good arsenic successful municipality areas successful countries ranging from the U.S. to Russia.

Turenscape, the architecture and plan steadfast based successful Beijing that Yu founded successful 1998, specializes successful scenery architecture, municipality design, and ecological restoration. Yu led Turenscape from its founding arsenic the firm’s main designer, processing it into a squad of much than 500 specialists, according to the company’s website.