Australian designers were recently invited to present at the 15th annual ‘International Academic Speakers Week’ in Shanghai.

Hosted by the SXADL (Shanghai XianDai Architectural Design Group), the International Academic Speakers Week was held 15-29th July 2014 and consisted of a series of seminars presented by several high profile designers across the built environment.

Landscape Architect Steve Calhoun and colleague George Zhou of Tract Consultants were invited to share 40 years of design experience. Guest speakers also included Architect Benedetta Tagliabue, Interior Designer Leonard Lee and Lighting Designer Satoshi Uchihara.


Above: George Zhou (Left) and Steve Calhoun (Right).

Calhoun and Zhou shared key projects from Tract’s opus across the public realm, infrastructure, institutions and the private sector , and their influence on contemporary landscape architecture as well as urban design in Australia and internationally.

As a pioneer of the Australian landscape industry, Steve Calhoun was instrumental in setting up the first tertiary Landscape Architecture program in Australia at RMIT in the late 1970s. His award-winning projects include the Cairns Esplanade, Tarrawarra Museum of Art and Commonwealth Games Village Royal Park.

^Tarrawarra Museum of Art and Vineyard Yarra Glen, Victoria by Tract 

George Zhou is a talented Landscape Architect, who shares the design lead with Calhoun on Tract’s China projects.