KUCHING COMMUNITY CRAFT & FOODSCAPE
Individual work
This project is centered around "edible landscapes + sensory experiences + community collaboration", and regards daily food plants and traditional weaving materials as key mediums for reconstructing cultural continuity, ecological restoration, and community space regeneration. The two sites are located between Kampung Surabaya, Kampung Gersik, Kampung Bintawa Tengah, and Kampung Semarang, presenting distinct spatial ecological conditions - an unspoiled native forest and an open bare land. Together, they form a sustainable, year-round growing community ecological network, allowing endangered dietary cultures and traditional crafts to be reintegrated into contemporary community life.
The overall concept of the project is structured around three interrelated “circles”: the Food Circle, the Craft Circle, and the Community Circle.
The Food and Craft Circles define what the garden produces—both edible ingredients and craft materials—while the Community Circle addresses how these productive processes are organized, managed, and sustained over time.
The project is conceived as a multi-stakeholder system involving government bodies, local communities, NGOs, and visitors at different stages of development. During the initial phase, the government takes a leading role in project investment and construction, with local residents participating as co-constructors. Following completion, management responsibility transitions to a community committee, while NGOs support ongoing operations through educational programs and cultural activities. Visitors are subsequently integrated into the system through participatory experiences such as cooking and weaving workshops, forming a continuous social and economic cycle.
The project takes local culinary traditions and traditional basket-weaving practices as its point of departure. Five representative local dishes and several types of traditional Sarawak baskets were selected, and the corresponding plant species required as raw materials were systematically identified.
These plant species exhibit significant differences in terms of growth cycles and spatial scale. Edible plants are primarily ferns, herbs, and shrubs, characterized by short growth cycles and frequent harvesting rhythms. In contrast, plants used for craft and weaving materials—such as palms, bamboo, and various rattan species—require long-term cultivation and occupy a much larger vertical and spatial presence.
Based on these temporal and spatial distinctions, the site is organized into two primary planting typologies. The Taste and Scent Nursery concentrates edible and aromatic plant species associated with local cuisine, while the Tactile Test Field is dedicated to the cultivation of plants used for traditional weaving and craft production.
Following harvesting, plant materials are transferred to on-site cooking laboratories and craft workshops, where they are transformed into food products or handmade artifacts. These processes support both participatory cultural experiences and small-scale community-based production.
This strategy maximizes ecological benefits through minimal intervention, enhances biodiversity, and revitalizes traditional knowledge related to forest-based food resources.
Site 2: Five-Senses Food and Craft GardenThe second site is designed as a more structured, program-driven landscape organized around a five-senses experiential framework. Distinct zones addressing touch, taste and scent, and visual and auditory experiences are established, with weaving material plants and edible species strategically distributed.
The nursery and test field form the spatial framework of the site, complemented by facilities such as a material pre-processing center, a central pavilion housing cooking laboratories and craft studios, and a market square. These spaces allow food processing, material production, and cultural exchange to occur within a shared spatial system, serving both everyday community use and seasonal festivals or markets.