BIRDS SINGING
Through architectureWELCOME TO
OUR WORLD
We at Mingzhu Nerval are dedicated to conceiving vertical living greenery walls and artful, luxury gardens.
Mingzhu —鳴築— in Chinese means ‘birds singing through architecture/the city’— this is our dream, and our daily work is to make it come true.
As Chinese is a beautiful language with layered meanings, Mingzhu is also the name, though with different characters, of co-founder Bai Mingzhu —白明竹.
We blend our fashion design, fine arts, and engineering backgrounds, along with our cultural sensibilities to do things that are wild, romantic, and sometimes very graphic.
OUR COMPANY
Mingzhu Nerval was founded in 2010 by fashion designer Bai Mingzhu and agricultural engineer Antoine Nerval, dedicated to conceiving living murals and artistic luxury gardens.
With the joining of Chaumont-sur-Loire winner Francesca Cosmai and ASLA Chair Chih-Wei G.V. Chang, the team has since expanded globally with offices in Paris, Shanghai and Taipei.
Our expertise range from botanical curation, horticulture technology, landscape architecture to environmental engineering. We strive to create the most cutting edge greenery with ever-expanding diversity and innovation.
Bai Mingzhu & Antoine Nerval
FoundersBai Mingzhu and Antoine Nerval co-founded MingzhuNerval in Shanghai in 2010. With backgrounds in fine art, fashion design, and agricultural engineering, Mingzhu & Nerval marry the precision in design and construction with an intimate knowledge of ecosystems and plant care.
Francesca Cosmai
Director of Projects, Sr. Landscape ArchitectFrancesca is a registered landscape architect (M.A.) from Turin. Since 2019 she is following the design and realization of projects with Mingzhu Nerval. Besides many recognitions she won the prestigious “Prix de la creation” at Chaumont-sur-Loire garden festival in 2019.
CHIH-WEI G.V. CHANG
Partner, Director of Landscape ArchitectureChih-Wei G.V. Chang is an award-winning landscape architect and environmental researcher who devotes his practices to the social and environmental needs of the future. For 20 years he has built projects ranging from large waterfront renovation, ecological corridor, urban landscape infill, green roof and vertical green. His major research topics are high performance landscape and low carbon design.
Julia Guenther
Lead DesignerJulia is a German designer, graduated in fine-arts with a specialization in interior architecture. She is merging her passion for visual expression with her expertise in spatial design and care for technical details, leading the design and technical drawing packages, from concept to construction drawings.
With more than 10 year’s experience, Julia has specialized in high-end hospitality, residential & retail projects.
Xiao Wu & Xiao Guo
Head of Gardening, ShanghaiA romantic couple is together leading our gardening team, taking care of all Mingzhu Nerval’s gardens and living walls across 18 cities in Central and North China.
Suzanne, Zhiyun & Andrea
Maintenance Team Leaders, ChinaA great trio of expert gardeners, taking good care of our beautiful projects in South China (Shenzhen, Canton, Hong Kong, Macao, Hainan…).
Tiffany & Molly
Office Manager & Design Assistant, ShanghaiTiffany Xu oversees the studio’s daily operations, administration, and client relations, keeping each project organized and thoughtfully coordinated.
Molly supports the creative team with research, drafting, and visual development, contributing fresh perspective and precision to each project.
Jenny Liu
Landscape ArchitectAs Landscape Architect, Jenny assists Francesca, our Director of Projects, supporting design development and project coordination.
Zhili
Head of Construction, WorldwideZhili is a skilled engineer, working with Mingzhu Nerval since its early beginnings. He has always been making sure that all our projects are perfectly built, planted and delivered on time, within budget, all over the world.
Mr. & Mrs. Xue
Nursery Managers, ChinaOur greenhouse partners in China bring generations of traditional gardening wisdom to our nursery. Raised in a rural, self-sufficient lifestyle, they learned to cultivate plants under harsh climates and without chemicals. Thanks to their deep-rooted knowledge and natural green thumb our plants grow so beautifully and thrive from the start.
VALUES
Of course we have big dreams of a greener and more beautiful world, yet we feel that our striving can be expressed in one single verse:
萬事不關心，
明朝散發弄扁舟
To us, this means ‘the answer is in beauty, and nature is beauty’.
This gives us the energy to express our values of beauty, grandeur and kindness through our work.
明朝散發弄扁舟
‘THE ANSWER IS IN BEAUTY,
AND NATURE IS BEAUTY’
PARIS
+33 (0)1 84 88 37 08
SHANGHAI
+86 (21) 6445 9689
Wechat: +86 186 2196 7417
TAIPEI
+886 909 545 592