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Dr. Nina Ni has been drawing since she was three years old. Not buildings, not blueprints, but paintings. A child reaching instinctively toward art and the world it could express. That early love of creativity never left her. It simply found a larger canvas.
Today, as Landscape Design Director at LWK + Partners, Nina brings nearly two decades of experience and more than 400 projects across the globe to every brief she takes on. The path from a paintbrush in childhood to some of the most celebrated public landscapes in the world is not as surprising as it might seem. For Nina, the through line has always been the same: a deep desire to create spaces where emotion, context and scenery truly connect. Where mountains, water, architecture and culture meet in a way that feels entirely natural, because it was designed to.
The moment that confirmed her calling was not a design award or a client presentation. It was simpler and more profound than that. It was watching communities gather in the public landscapes she had designed. Seeing people’s lives genuinely improved by nature and thoughtful design. That was the moment she knew this was her lifelong path.
Listening to the land first
Zhouweiwei wetland Park Project & Project Tuwaya AI Madinh . KSA hand sketch created by Dr. Nina Ni
Nina describes her design approach as rooted in four things: context, ecology, culture and humanity. The order matters. Before anything is drawn or specified, she listens to the land itself. Its climate, its history, its ecosystem. What it is asking for before she decides what to bring to it.
For Nina, good design balances beauty and function, respects the site it inhabits, serves the people who will use it and ages gracefully over time. The goal is always the same: to craft timeless, heartfelt landscapes that feel natural, inclusive and full of life. Not designed, but discovered. Not imposed, but earned.
That philosophy Project Gama, KSA, held consistently across nearly two decades and hundreds of projects, is what makes her work recognisable not by its style but by its quality of feeling.
Zhouweiwei wetland Park Project Gama Foshan. China.
Shiwan wet land children . Foshan China
Designing for a changing climate
The shift Nina thinks about most is one that the entire industry is reckoning with: sustainability and climate resilience. Particularly in arid regions like the Middle East, where water conservation, heat adaptation, native planting and ecological restoration have moved from aspirational to essential.
Her response is practical and purposeful. She prioritises waterwise systems, smart irrigation and BIM digital tools. She specialises in reviving degraded and abandoned sites, transforming disused docks and eroded ecological islands into resilient, healthy public landscapes that serve both people and the environment. Her work spans award-winning projects including:
- Abu Dhabi Marina — DA Landscape Awards 2025, Innovation in Design – Outdoor Space
- District 5, MISK City, Riyadh — Public realm and landscape design
- Gamma 2.0 Project, Riyadh — Landscape and public domain design
- Tauja Luxury Resort, Al Asha, KSA — Resort landscape and outdoor amenity design
- Project Tuwaya Al Madinah, KSA — Hospitality landscape and public realm
- DIFC Living, Dubai｜Arab Property Awards Winner 2025-26 (Mixed-use)
- Hanging Garden Bridge, Dubai— Dubai Public Realm Excellence
- Future Times, Qianhai Shenzhen— IDA Tops Landscape Award Winner
- Ganzhou Ke+ VILLAGE Waterfront Commercial Street— IDA Tops Global Top 5
- Foshan New Port — International Property Awards Winner 2023
Project Gama Riyadh. KSA
For Nina, sustainability is not a constraint on great design. It is the condition of it.
What the best projects are actually built from
Looking back at her early years, Nina is generous and clear about what she wishes she had known sooner. Design, she reflects, is not only about creativity and drawings. It is about listening, patience and care.
Foshan New port Project . China
Early in her career, she focused on concepts and visuals. The ideas, the images, the expression of design on the page. Over time, she came to understand that the best projects grow from something quieter and more considered: a genuine understanding of the site, the community and the environment that will hold the work. Talent matters. But respect, dedication and empathy are what create truly great landscapes.
Metro Future Times Plaza, Qianhai, Shenzhen China
Awarded 2026 Person of the Year, Nina spoke at Metro Future Times press conference, Shenzhen.
Nina specialises in landscape design, with Qianhai Times Square in Shenzhen as one of her signature projects. Born in Shenzhen, she has witnessed its transformation from a fishing village into an international metropolis. The project’s comprehensive municipal facilities and public parks vividly reflect how China’s reform and development have boosted public wellbeing.
Having grown alongside Shenzhen’s rapid urban expansion, Nina has participated in numerous international projects over the past nine years. Drawing from China’s development experience and collaborating closely with LWK’s Middle East team, she firmly believes that innovation and transformation will bring great value to the region. She devotes her career to desert restoration, ecological greening, climate optimisation and child-friendly urban design, all in service of building pleasant and liveable spaces.
Metro Future Times Plaza, Qianhai, Shenzhen China
It is a distinction that sounds simple and takes years to fully inhabit. Nina has inhabited it, and it shows in every project she leads.
A redefined measure of success
Nina’s definition of success has shifted in a way that speaks directly to the heart of why she does this work. She began, as many do, measuring it through projects, awards and recognition. All of which she has earned in considerable measure.
Today, success means something different. It means seeing people genuinely use and love the spaces she has designed. It means restoring ecosystems and bringing nature back to cities. It means creating landscapes that support both people and the planet. And it means contributing, through the work of public design, to what she calls an ecological civilisation: a world where the built environment and the natural world are not in competition but in conversation.
Success, for Nina, is no longer about what she accomplishes. It is about what her work gives back.
Gratitude that travels far
Nina closes with credits that reflect the deeply collaborative nature of her work and the generosity of spirit that runs through everything she does.
She thanks her mentors, colleagues and every member of LWK + Partners, with particular appreciation for the MENA team led by Kerem Cengiz for their trust and productive collaboration across the Middle East. She extends warm acknowledgement to Landscape Director Otto Liang, her long-standing collaborator on China and Hong Kong projects, for walking alongside her in pursuit of outstanding landscape and ecological solutions. She credits Joseph Chan of the LWK planning team for his devoted expertise in desert remediation and ecological greening work throughout the region.
Her deepest thanks go to LWK + Partners founders Ronald Liang and Ivan Fu, who established the practice in Hong Kong in 1985 and laid the foundation for what has become a preeminent global design firm. She also thanks the clients and governmental partners whose vision and investment have made the most meaningful work possible, and acknowledges the shared commitment to ecological restoration that continues to drive projects of real consequence across the region.
Tribute to gifted LWK Landscape HE FAN for pivotal Foshan New Port input
Tribute to LWK MENA & LWK Landscape for award-winning landscape feats.
Special thanks to Kerem Cengiz, whose exceptional leadership and dedication on Middle East projects inspire me greatly.
Grateful for Andreja Marolt’s constant encouragement and support along the way.
No great work is achieved in isolation, she says. Each project is a collective journey, embarked upon side by side. In Nina Ni’s case, that journey has already shaped the landscapes of cities and communities across the world. And it is far from finished.
Dr. Nina Ni is the Landscape Design Director at LWK + Partners. This piece is part of The Minds Behind the Build, PAGES’ ongoing series celebrating the founders and leaders shaping the built environment.
