Landscape architecture

• oktober 20, 2013

  ‘Once again, it is time for something new’

  This title is a quote by Rem Koolhaas. It was published as part of an interview with a newspaper (TROUW, October 19 2013) this weekend. These journalist had not spoken to him in nine years. Rem is not so keen on interviews. Partly because he does not like to fuel ideas about any stardom he…

• september 21, 2013

  Proud about ideas

  Of course there are sparse moments of self-pride. Even with the average self-esteem of landscape designers, some ideas and deliveries are worth wallowing in. An instance of the purest sublime by an act of creation: for, as if instinctively, our soul is uplifted by true elevation; it takes a proud flight, and is filled with…

• augustus 19, 2013

  European Jungles

  As a child I fantasized about woodlands bigger than the ones that existed in my native – Dutch – country. Big canopy trees with widespread roots and branches to hold a treehouse or two. Hills and dales and mud and berries. Later I found these places either in the books I loved to read or…

• juli 21, 2013

  The science of landscape design

  The fact that landscapes can be designed is a fascinating possibility. Implicitly it includes the design of fjords and mountain ranges, as if building the set of the next CGI adventure movie. Many of my students are secretly drawn to such a challenge. Fueled by increasingly lifelike renderings and ethically imprinted by real footage imagery…

• mei 26, 2013

  extra post May, Archiprix International 2013: environments of agreement

  Last week the inspiringly important Architectural Design competition Archiprix International, for graduating designers was presented by a few ceremonial events. This Biennale event – of which, as a member of the board, I am partly responsible for – was hosted by Moskou as a joint venture of its two architectural institutes, the Strelka and the…

• april 20, 2013

  Children and sublime landscapes

  Being alone in an all pervasive landscape, provides an intriguing advantage for experiences: every sensation directly relates to you, in person. Every index finger pointing at some external cause, is a seeking finger pointing outward at sounds, movement, smells, views and pointing inward to some sort of judgement. Such an explorative means of sensing both…

• maart 23, 2013

  Why new research into the beautiful and the sublime?

  There are things in life – and in the landscapes that remind people of life – that cannot be put to words. The experience of such things and phenomenon is necessarily somewhere in between the real and the imaginary. For me, this is not a problem at all. On the contrary, it is proof of…

• januari 23, 2013

  What did I expect landscape design to be?

  What was I thinking when I decided to study landscape architecture? Did I really expect to design whole landscapes? Meet rich enough clients so I could play with their lands and tell them what fancy big trees to buy or chop, what holes to dig to fill with water or what mountains to create for…

• december 25, 2012

  Stress induced landscapes

  Within my research group at Wageningen University we have discussed an interesting viewpoint regarding living system design. Not everyone within the group of students agrees with it, because it appears to be counterintuitive and even opposite ecological reasoning. The subject is living system design and we intend to broaden the predominant ecological prospect (e.g. increase…