WEEDsilience is a continuous research, education and advocacy project which investigates the aesthetics and functions of spontaneous plants beyond conventional landscape design and planning. By exploring the neglected nature in our everyday life, and investigating from ecological and ethnobotanical perspectives, we scrutinize our perception of “weeds”.
We advocate the conservation of rural habitats, meanwhile attempts to incorporate urban wilderness, blending unintended plant species, into resilient urban designs. By reclaiming human-plant symbiosis, we hope to co-exist with multispecies in a hyper-dense urban environment.
Ivy is the co-founder of WEEDsilience and Pi Lab Limited. She was formerly a research coordinator in a local herbarium for 3.5 years and received her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science with First Class Honors from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). She started working in botany related works since 2019 during her undergraduate study.
Her previous working experiences include scientific botanical illustration, field survey, specimen collection, processing, digitization and inventory management, botany education, internship training and management, pollen and TCM Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), government tender projects, etc. She was the author, illustrator, and editor of Botanical Illustrated Guide to Hong Kong Native Plants book series. She has collected over 500 voucher specimens which were deposited in local herbarium as well as Harvard herbarium.
She is now specialized in herbaceous weedy plants. Her current research focus includes urban plant ecology, adaptations and spontaneous landscape. Her works were featured in the Hong Kong Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale Urbanism \ Architecture (2022); The Practice of Everyday Life (2020), and articles were published in Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA) Journal, 60th IFLA World Congress 2024, Yuan Lin (2024). Recent awards received include championship in Hong Kong Youth Nature Documentary Competition, Finalist of IFLA Artistic Landscape Competition, and Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (HKILA) Merit Award.
She is also active in community engagement and environmental art, advocating sustainability, co-learning, and resilient community in her spare time. She transforms scientific specimens and illustrations to art forms that are appreciated by the general public and bridge botany between academia and the community. She was a core member of CU Happy Corner for 4 years and a participant in Rural Community Development Programme — Sustainable Lai Chi Wo for 3 years. She was also a co-learner (mentor/facilitator) in Art-Is-land: Young Teaching Artist & Art Administrator Training Program for 1.5 years.
Homan is the co-founder of WEEDsilience and Pi Lab Limited. He is a plant researcher who received his Master of Science in Environmental Management from the University of Hong Kong.
Homan is fascinated in local biodiversity and started documenting local flora since 2018. He also has 3 years of practicing experience in local herbarium and involved in many scientific projects. He collected more than 600 plant specimens during the time in herbarium and some specimens are deposited in the Harvard University Herbaria for research purpose.
His professional practice has ranged from plant authentication, wildlife photography to 3D photogrammetry. His research findings have been published in renowned international scientific journals, including PLoS ONE and Ecology and Evolution.
His recent nature documentary “WEEDsilience: Explore the Neglected Nature” has won the Champion in the Hong Kong Youth Nature Documentary Competition.
He is now a freelancer who involved in multiple projects about local biodiversity, including urban plants documentation, vegetation survey, education programs and wildlife photography.
Benni is the Vice President of the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (HKILA). He is a Registered Landscape Architect who received his Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) with distinction from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Master in Design Studies (MDes) from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD).
He has 15 years of practising experience in landscape architecture and involved in a number of awarded projects. His professional practice has ranged from public space design to urban design and landscape planning of major developments incorporating nature-based solutions, blue-green infrastructure and resilient design initiatives in Hong Kong.
His works have been featured in the 2022 Hong Kong Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale Urbanism \ Architecture and 2019 Beijing International Horticultural Exposition. Recent design awards include the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (HKILA) Award 2024, International Design Awards (IDA) 2023, Architizer A+ Award 2022 and the Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA) Special Award 2022-23.
His researches examine and experiment spontaneous landscape, ruderal ecology and perception of space in urban environment and are published / presented in the Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA) Journal, Yuan Lin and Landscape Architecture Frontier (LAF) and 60th IFLA World Congress 2024.
He is also a Committee Member of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) World Congress 2026 Organizing Committee and Co-opted Member of Green Labelling Committee of the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC). He served as the Chairperson of Practice Committee and Deputy Chairperson of the Continuing Professional Development Committee in the HKILA in 2017-18 and 2022-24 respectively.