I mourn the sudden loss of my long-term friend and colleague Kongjian Yu, who lost his life in a plane crash while filming in the Pantanal wetlands in Brasil this week.

We first met in 2003, when I was working with Rainer Schmidt Landschaftsarchitekten. Kongjian invited us over to China, to take part in the project „Growth Pattern of Taizhou City based on Ecological Infrastructure“ and the competition project for the Forest Park and Central Section of Olympic Park in Beijing.

Collaborating with Kongjian Yu and DIHUA LI, their amazing students from Peking University Graduate School of Landscape Architecture and the great team of Turenscape, made me see the mission of landscape architecture as a profession and the role of landscape architects with completely new eyes. Learning about Kongjian´s ideas on making friends with flood, rustic beauty and sponge cities deeply influenced my own personal development and professional career, both as a practicing landscape architect and within academia. I am quite sure that without knowing and learning from Kongjian, I would never have become a professor myself.

I am grateful for having had the chance to share so many special experiences with Kongjian, while exploring and working on unique sites in China, Europe and the US and organizing multiple workshops and symposia on Landscape Architecture with numerous experts, city officials and students across countries. We cycled the countryside, we climbed mountains, we listened to the land and its inhabitants and we celebrated life.

I am just so thankful that I have been able to follow Kongjian´s visionary lectures and writings, visit his and Turenscape´s super-impressive projects and witness his growing global influence and impact for more than 20 years. I carry within me so many stories, such powerful memories, such disturbing experiences and such special conversations, that will always stay with me - and with all the other people that were deeply educated, inspired and supported by Kongjian such as me.

My thoughts are with his family and friends, whom I am sending my deepest sympathy and condolences.

译文：

我沉痛悼念我的挚友兼同事俞孔坚教授，他本周在巴西潘塔纳尔湿地拍摄时不幸遭遇空难，英年早逝。

我们初次相遇是在2003年，当时我正与Rainer Schmidt景观设计事务所合作。俞教授邀请我们前往中国，参与“基于生态基础设施的台州市发展模式”项目，以及北京奥林匹克公园森林公园和中心区的竞赛项目。

与俞孔坚教授、迪华李教授、北京大学景观设计学院的杰出学生以及Turenscape的优秀团队合作，让我以全新的视角看待景观建筑这一职业的使命以及景观建筑师的角色。俞教授关于与洪水为友、乡土之美和海绵城市的理念，深刻影响了我的个人成长和职业生涯，无论是在实践领域还是学术领域。我确信，若非结识并学习俞教授，我绝不可能成为一名教授。

我感恩能与俞教授共同度过那么多特别的时光，我们一起在中国、欧洲和美国探索和工作于独特的场地，组织了多次跨国界的景观建筑研讨会和工作坊，与众多专家、城市官员和学生交流合作。我们一起骑行乡村，一起攀登高山，一起聆听大地及其居民的声音，一起庆祝生命。

过去20多年来，我有幸聆听俞教授富有远见的讲座，研读他的著作，参观他和Turenscape令人惊叹的项目，并目睹他日益增长的全球影响力。我内心珍藏着许多故事、强大而深刻的回忆、震撼人心的经历以及特别的对话，这些都将永远伴随着我，也伴随着所有像我一样深受俞教授教育、启发和支持的人。

我的思念与他的家人和朋友同在，我向他们致以最深切的同情和哀悼。