Kongjian Yu, the pioneering Chinese landscape architect and urban planner credited with coining the "sponge city" concept, has passed away at 62. According to Reuters, he was killed in a plane crash on Tuesday in the wetlands of Mato Grosso do Sul state, in Brazil, while reportedly filming a documentary about his work, after being featured in the opening program of the São Paulo International Architecture Biennale last week.
Kongjian Yu, one of the world's most famous landscape architects, has reportedly been killed in a plane crash in Brazil'sPantanal wetlands while making a film about his work. Yu, 62, was flying to a ranch in Mato Grosso do Sul state, near Brazil's western border with Paraguay and Bolivia, in a single-engine four-seater Cessna aircraft when the plane went down on Tuesday afternoon. Three others on board were also killed: two Brazilian filmmakers, Luiz Ferraz and Rubens Crispim Junior, and Marcelo Pereira de Barros, a well-known local pilot.