Lily Kwong Unveils 'EARTHSEED DOME' and 'Gardens of Renewal' in San Francisco and New York

Landscape designer and artist Lily Kwong, known for blending academic training in urban studies at Columbia with intuitive plant knowledge from the New York Botanical Garden, has completed two major public installations. In San Francisco, 'EARTHSEED DOME' (January 17–July 31) was installed at the Transamerica Redwood Grove in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, using 130 3D-printed blocks with teams Ground Cover, Habitat Horticulture, E.B. Min, and Endrestudio. In New York, 'Gardens of Renewal' (April 22–September 1, 2025) transformed Madison Square Park lawns with spiral paths planted with roughly 3,000 native plants across 50 species, plus play structures by Lily Consuelo Saporta Tagiuri. Kwong has also been commissioned for a three-year residency at USC Pacific Asia Museum to reimagine its permanent courtyard, connecting her Asian heritage and family migration from China to Australia to San Francisco. She plans to return to her Lumens series shown at Night Gallery in 2024. Her work emphasizes biocultural storytelling, viewing plants as carriers of memory, medicine, and cultural identity, and she collaborates with brands like Hermès, Buccellati, and St-Germain.