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IFLA Student Charrette 2026
The IFLA Student Charrette gathers landscape architecture students from all over the world to participate in an intense workshop that allow them to meet their peers and educators internationally, collaboratively work on real-life projects on a local site that are relevant to the IFLA World Congress theme, and pushes the agenda and boundaries of planetary landscape architectural education.
Key Dates:
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Announcement: July 2026
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Application Deadline for Individual Participants: 31 August 2026, at 23:59 (UTC-12)
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Selection Notification: 7 September 2026. The selected students will be contacted individually
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Workshop in Hong Kong: 24–27 October 2026 (Arrival on the 24th)
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Award Ceremony: 28–30 October 2026 at IFLA World Congress (Details to be announced)
Theme: Liminal Landscapes: Floating Villages, Seafood Culture, and the Land-Water Interface
Working with the Congress theme of “Liminal Landscapes: Shifting Boundaries of Watersheds and Coastlines”, the IFLA Student Charrette 2026 will specifically take on Hong Kong’s Aberdeen district, located at the south side of Hong Kong Island, to explore some specific aspects under the Congress theme.
Aberdeen, once the largest typhoon shelter for fishing boats in Hong Kong, has in the 1950s to 1970s been the site of a striking floating village. As the inhabitants of fishing boats gradually moved to be housed on the land, Aberdeen continued to be famous for its fleet of floating restaurants, which became to be known as the “Jumbo Kingdom” in the 1970s. In June 2022, the last remaining one of these floating restaurants ceased operation and was capsized in the South China Sea. Being an important icon of Hong Kong’s collective memory and witness to Hong Kong’s strong land and water connection, the sinking of Jumbo has been lamented by many. There are current plans to restore the older Tai Pak Floating Restaurant to reopen again in 2026–2027, which gives a timely context to the larger discussion of the revitalisation of the Aberdeen district as a whole.
Illustrated map of Aberdeen produced by THEi
Student Charrette Description
This Student Charrette explores a key element that can be considered a defining feature of landscape architecture compared to other design disciplines, which is the element of time. Since landscape architecture works with outdoor environments and living ecologies in the shaping of human experiences, the landscape architect needs to be conversant with the multiple dimensions of temporal rhythms, cycles, and progressions, including diurnal and seasonal cycles, life cycles, ecological processes, urban processes, and historical processes. The studio takes on a poetic approach to urban history through the metaphors of reading the city as palimpsest and imagining it as richly layered archaeological sites.
The idea of archaeology is especially interesting if we take on the land and water interface, which according to legend, marks the appearance of the mythic creature “Lo-ting”, which are allegedly (or metaphorically) ancestors of Hongkongers. Taking Dung Kai-cheung’s Atlas: the Archaeology of an Imaginary City as a starting point, the studio will continue to study how these land and water interfaces are designed and managed locally in Hong Kong and internationally in other parts of the world. The studio site will be based on the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter, the waterfronts on both sides, and also the fishing and seafood culture that defines Aberdeen’s cultural landscape.
Dung Kai-cheung’s Atlas and the mythical creature of Lo-ting
Dates
Program duration: September 24–27 October 2026 (4 days)
Participants are expected to arrive on the 23 October 2026 (Saturday) to settle at the hotel. The Charrette itself will be start in the morning of 24 October 2026. Final presentations will happen in the afternoon of 27 October 2026.
Charrette Venues
Studio Space
School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Lee Shau Kee Architecture Building The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ma Liu Shui, N.T., Hong Kong
Tai Pak Floating Restaurant, Aberdeen
1 Shum Wan Pier Drive, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong
Student Accommodation
Hyatt Regency Hong Kong Sha Tin
18 Chak Cheung Street, New Territories, Sha Tin
Contact and access :
hongkong.shatin@hyatt.com
Tel : +852 3723 1234
GENERAL TERMS
Eligibility:
Students majoring in landscape architecture all over the world (including graduate students). Students must be active students/enrolled in a program when the charette takes place. Proficiency in the English language, ability to use drawing and visualization programs are crucial to apply for student charrette.
Admission and Number of Participants:
Students who are part of the IFLA Global Studio Programme (GSP, around an estimated 50–60 students from all over the world for the five IFLA Regions) are directly enrolled into this Charrette. We anticipate around 30 international participants will join in-person.
Students are who are not part of the GSP are also invited to apply as non-GSP participants. Non-GSP participants will be in-person only. We expect to accept an additional 20-30 participants The IFLA 2026 Student Charrette Committee will review the applications and make a select for the non-GSP participants.
Participation fee:
USD 100 for each participant
The fee includes the basic costs of programme participation. (The fee does not include personal expenses such as flights, travel insurance, shopping, touristic visits, breakfast, dinner, etc.)
Free accommodation is provided to all GSP participants. Individual participants are expected to bear their own costs for accommodation. If they choose to stay at the Hyatt Regency, they can enjoy the same conference rates of the organiser.
The payment method for the participation fee will be notified to the selected applicants at a later date.
Prizes:
Prizes will be available to the winning teams of the Student Charrette. The prize amounts ant the makeup of the jury panel will be made available closer the date of the Charrette.
All participants of the Charrette will be awarded a Certificate of Participation.
Application (for independent application only, not for GSP)
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Letter of Intent: 1-page maximum (A4 size), please describe yourself and why you should be admitted into the Charette. Include self-introduction and share an experience/anecdote (personal or related to your studies) that has changed or evolved the way you consider landscapes and/or landscape roles (feel free!). It should be saved as an uneditable PDF.
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Proof of Student Enrollment: All participants must be enrolled in a program at the time of the charrette’s and submit a Student Certificate.
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Selected samples of your personal work, from your studio projects or portfolio. You will need to briefly describe, in a short text, how the proposed project addresses the theme. More details on the themes and sub-themes of the congress can be found at the following link: https://www.ifla2026.com/topics.
For applications from Hong Kong, you need to be student enrolled in a Landscape Architecture program, preferably a student member of The Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects.
Please send your application email to student@ifla2026.com by 31 August 2026, 23:59 (UTC-12) with the required documents and with the email subject line: ‘Application for IFLA 2026 Charette_Firstname Lastname.’
Congress registration
Congress registration is included for student participating in the Charrette (for GSP, only student participating in person).
Individual participants shall register separately to the World Congress.
Contact
For application and questions, please contact: student@ifla2026.com
Organizers
Copyright © IFLA World Congress 2026
