Yingxin Zhang (Tris)

Environmental Architecture (MA)

Footprint Archive - Smell Map -Video Projection Exhibition

Smell sketch between natural and pipe water scent: Wild boars were observed biting and sniffing water pipes in plantations, attracted by the water scent. This indicates they locate water through smell, leading them to invade farmland and highlighting scent conflicts in land use.

Footprint - Foraging Movement In February, we conducted olfactory landscape exercises at three Alentejo sites to understand wild boars' olfactory behavior. Through field notes and footprint collection, we inferred the boars' olfactory environment and created a footprint archive. This revealed how wild boars use smell to forage and navigate, providing insights into their use of olfactory cues to find food.

We also used three chapters of video to express the progressive relationship between the perspectives of human and wild boar in this project: Human top View, Smell Journal, and the Visual Environment during wild boar foraging activities.

About

My name is Yingxin Zhang (Tris). I have completed my BA Honours in Interior Architecture at the University of New South Wales and have finished my Master’s in Environmental Architecture at the Royal College of Art. I am passionate about rethinking the relationship between environmental change and human activities from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Sustainability is the core principle I advocate in my design practice. My academic and practical experiences have taught me that space and architecture need to establish a close connection with the environment. This understanding drives me to continuously explore new perspectives, allowing me to critically engage with the world and contribute meaningfully through design.

In the final project, “Sensory Foraging,” our group explored the spatial characteristics of smell landscapes during wild boar foraging through fieldwork, wild boar perspectives, footprint analysis and smell mapping practices. It compares the limitations of human olfactory perception with the wild boar. The aim was to reveal the causes of habitat fragmentation in the Alentejo and to understand how odor acts as a conflict between wild boar survival pathways and complex policies (e.g. land use and agricultural realities) and to provoke reflection and questioning of the contradictions.

Video Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders

I aspire to achieve more breakthroughs in interdisciplinary approaches and actively participate as a designer in the environmental movement, continually growing through practice.

Team member: Yanzi Zou

Tutor: João Ruivo & George Ridgway

Contact: yingxinzhang_cc@163.com

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