Ping comes from a Chinese Character: 平

It is short for Ping Chang (平常), which means common, ordinary and humble. It also means a state of calmness, a sense of balance and peace of mind. It is an idealism we want our design to achieve.

Ping is a landscape architecture and design firm founded in 2024, with the purpose of bringing design excellency to a larger audience. Design excellency doesn’t always mean high-end materials and expensive finishes. It can come from ordinary things.

We approach projects with humility rather than pre-conceived styles. We believe design is about finding the appropriateness in the site. It grows from the land, the history and the lives of people who use it. It is crafting an experience and a story that connects people to the land.

Wanjing Ji

Founder and Principal

Wanjing is a cultural observer, a listener and a storyteller.

Influenced by her rich cultural heritage and travels to different parts of the world, she is intrigued by the way unique cultures and ecologies shape people’s approach in place-making. Through deliberate re-intervention and purposeful juxtapositions, her work skillfully unveils the profound narratives embedded in history and culture. Rich layers of textures gracefully overlay a minimalist framework, creating a captivating synthesis.

Prior to establishing Ping, Wanjing served as Design Director at Coen+Partners, where she spearheaded award-winning projects spanning crafted residential gardens to urban open spaces. Her adept management of complex teams was marked by a balance of rigorous design exploration and efficient project management, ensuring successful and timely project delivery.

She also actively engages in the ASLA community by serving on the National Education Advisory Committee and as co-chair of Education and Professional Development in the Minnesota Chapter.

Wanjing holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design and Bachelor of Architecture from Tsinghua University.

Outside of her professional pursuits, Wanjing is an avid practitioner of Ashtanga yoga. She enjoys spending time with her family, whether in their garden, exploring different playground, or embarking on journeys to various destinations.

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A Personal Story on “Why”

Hello everyone,

Welcome to Ping.

I am Wanjing. I was born in northern China and came to the United States when I was 24 years old. In my early years, I witnessed rapid urbanization of China and with it, memories and traditions were lost. This motivated me to enter the design professions. I want to design spaces that retain memories and build on traditions and stories that can be passed on through generations.

In my first 11 years in the profession, I was fortunate to have worked in a studio that values the same and creates thoughtful design. However, there remained a deep desire to craft something from scratch and truly embrace my own cross-cultural identity.

In 2018, my husband and I decided to add an addition to our house. Our budget was modest, but we didn’t want to sacrifice the design. So, the design process became a creative prioritization of things, celebrating everyday material through contrast and juxtaposition. This initiated my thinking as to how I can make design more accessible to people like us.

The dots finally started to connect in 2023 when I took a year-long, partial sabbatical from my previous employer. I participated in public speaking engagements on my design journey. It allowed me to look back and find common threads in my experience. The word “humble” jumped out. Celebrated as a virtue in Chinese culture, it has a big influence on everything that I do. I believe in humble approach in design (not a shining object), humble with resources (take only what we need) and humble in collaboration (maintain a small ego and be a good listener).

When I was able to formulate the why, I knew I was ready. Ping was born.

Ping is not just a showcase of our design. It is also a platform to share inspiration and stories that inform our design approach.

Coming from a cross-cultural perspective, I have always been intrigued with how space is shaped by the interplay of cultural and natural forces, and how it evolves over time. We will be sharing such stories under “Stories”. Please also follow us on Instagram to stay tuned with updates.

Thank you.