The new water playground in the middle of the Plänterwald has become an “ocean whirlpool” that enables people to enjoy a range of play options and wooden platforms situated around a central water labyrinth. A one-of-a-kind leisure time offer for both young and old.
The former commercial area to the west of the Munich - Ingolstadt railway line, close to the Allach and Untermenzing S-Bahn stations, is being restructured into a mixed-use residential quarter.
Cold air corridors and easily accessible, high-quality green spaces contribute significantly to a pleasant settlement climate. For the Werdenberg-Liechtenstein agglomeration, we are developing principles, fields of action and measures for heat-adapted settlement development.
The design for the Taubenloch park in Bad Tölz envisaged visually opening up the existing park and creating a direct link to the Isar flowing past by removing hedges and fences running parallel to the riverbank. In addition, the embankment was made accessible to visitors and equipped with seating in the form of boulders and seating walls.
In the Elinor-Ostrom-Park, we have used a loose framework of trees to define open clearings in the park that facilitate a view of the surrounding urban spaces and the elevated railway line. The elevated railway links the different sections of the park as a spatial backbone and route for urban uses.
The open space concept incorporates the basic principles of the architecture. Islands of vegetation at the main entrance clearly separate the individual functions. Basic access for vehicles to the plot of land is concentrated along the building so as to be able to create a high-quality space for spending time along the ship canal with promenade.
Where the Vorderrhein and Hinterrhein Rivers flow together, the second bridge over the Hinterrhein for two-lane development supplements the existing, landmarked lattice framework bridge.
The bungalows were built for the female athletes to use during the 1972 Olympic Games. Since then, they have served as student accommodation. For the necessary redevelopment of the neighborhood, we worked with bogevischs buero to redevelop the architectural and open space typologies based on the existing buildings.
A "sponge oasis" for the main street in Freilassing summarizes the goals for the redesign in terms of content: bioclimatically adapted, with new experiences for all generations, and flexibly designed with regard to future transformations.
Competition success: We are very pleased to have won 3rd place in the two-stage competition "Masterplan Mainau 2040 mit Palmenhaus" together with Henning Larsen Architects. Special congratulations to our editors Regine Keller, Franz Damm, Annika Sailer, Silvia Benedito, Dantong Su, Marcia Rosenheinrich and Laura Stoib.
Bahnhofsstrasse is being redesigned in accordance with the 2016 urban development concept. The population can get involved during the project development via the participation processes. The focus is on non-motorized traffic and the improvement of the quality of stay through square design. The aim is to achieve a high-quality streetscape design. Supplementary tree plantings support the character of the neighborhood and improve the urban climate.
The lifeline of Stein am Rhein has always been the pier. Where transport ships used to dock, today it is tourist boats with groups of tourists. The place changed periodically according to the needs.
The Prime Tower at the Hardbrücke traffic junction in Zurich West is still the most visible witness to the transformation of the Maag site from an industrial location to a mixed-use neighborhood.
The new garden city in Beelitz Heilstätten will combine single-family and multi-family homes with imposing listed buildings, compact woodland with rest and play facilities and a newly planned low-traffic infrastructure in an extraordinary combination. A multifunctional market place and the new lake with promenade will additionally promote the local identity.
High-quality open spaces are being created around the impressive listed building, which, in addition to their high degree of required and variable functionality, in particular realise a design language that connects the entire quarter with park-like outdoor facilities in keeping with the listed building.
The new residential estate in Triftstrasse in Berlin-Pankow, which is surrounded by woodland, is characterised by the special feature of the lived-in community and the child-friendly, low-traffic concept. In addition, the demand for optimal resource conservation is implemented through central energy supply and rainwater management as well as climate-friendly aspects through green roofs and façades, the least possible sealing or native building and vegetation selection.
A loose structure of trees that again and again offers views of the surrounding urban spaces frames the central clearing in the new district park. A striking, spacious entrance area anchors the park on Thurgauerstrasse.
As part of the restructuring of the Berlin Zoo, geographical thematic focuses are being implemented. Together with zoologists, we are developing the new "Himalayan Mountainscape" with its characteristic animals, landscapes and habitats.
The inner courtyard on the Sulzer site refers to the industrial past and the reclaiming of abandoned areas. Flexibility and ecology promote biodiversity, improve the urban climate and create a green oasis for all generations.
The new building of the State and Municipal Library forms a new, cohesive urban-planning figure along with the existing building. A homogeneous carpet of surfacing material consisting of paving with good traction frames the combined building structures and incorporates the entrance area of the neighboring Maria Theresia Gymnasium in a coherent way.
The low-traffic open spaces of the entire Einstein Quarter near Potsdam's main railway station will bring together the most diverse user groups from the buildings and also visitors to the adjacent riverside promenade through a uniform design concept.
With the summer flower and perennial garden, we have developed a special garden in Treptower Park further based on the existing park maintenance plan in a contemporary way—with special consideration given to a sustainable choice of plants and the renovation of the original structural elements based on guidelines for historical monument protection.
An oasis for communal living has been realized in the middle of the lively Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg. A spacious, intensively planted roof area takes up this idea and explores the landscape architecture potentials of this form of housing.
At the edge of the city, a path leads to a sitting area. What seems to be unspoiled nature was once an overgrown waste disposal site. With only a few interventions, it is now a garden. A book box holds garden books as inspiration for reflecting on “nature.” “Si vous possédez une bibliothèque et un jardin, vous avez tout ce qu’il vous faut .” Cicero, Epistulae ad familiares IX, 4, à Varro (rédigées entre 63 et 43 av. J.-C)
The new library in Heidenheim forms a unique, sculptural urban building block surrounded by a bright public square space and streetscape. Planted areas structure the elongated area of the public square by taking up the projections in the building silhouette.
The master plan combines an assessment and reorganization of the existing qualities of the park with a new museum building.
The open space develops from a former garden show to a complex theme park in connection with the exhibition grounds, the River Warnow, and the museum.
The Burgerspital with its inner courtyards is considered to be one of the most beautiful Baroque buildings in Bern. The large inner courtyard was created in the first half of the eighteenth century. It was remodeled several times in the nineteenth and twentieth century. There are only a few informative archival documents, which are now being interpreted atmospherically. The stringent basic architectonic form of the Baroque courtyard is being continued with clipped, high-trunk lindens alternating with potted plants and sunken squares of lawn.
On the former landfill site, life is awakening again in the new single-family and multi-family houses and their open spaces. The specific location allows us to react differently on all sides and design different open spaces.
We elaborated the different atmospheres of the two villa gardens. The sunny, extroverted garden captivates with its elevated terrace with a view of the lake. In the shady garden, intimate seating areas are embedded in sumptuous plantings of perennials.
Every four years, the city of Opfikon has to invite tenders for the gardening work at its cemetery in a public procedure. We were able to develop the planning work and the specifications with enclosures for this and successfully carry out the tender.
The promenade with one avenue connects the bank of the Rhine with the adjacent urban spaces. Sight windows mark the cross streets and lead into the city. In front of the Altstadt, terraced steps invite spending time. The various embankments are retained. Gravel deposits characterize the slip face and provide a valuable habitat for flora, fauna, and site for nature lovers.
The characteristic natural stone carpet and the old lime tree with the fountain basin have been retained. Unnecessary items have been removed. A group of young lime trees and a water fountain set into the ground create a new place to meet. The multi-functionality of the square is reinforced.
The park on the southern arm of the Elbe, which was honored as an excellence project of the IBA Hamburg, owes its five-pointed shape to the Castle Island, which was previously framed by bastions. Plantings of trees accentuate the view of the fragment of the castle and once again produce a reference to the water.
The redesign takes into account the legacy of Ernst Cramer: the formative concrete planter boxes, wall beds, and lawn theater have been retained. Spacious, park-like surroundings extend around the old trees so as to provide space.
Within the substance of the cemetery that is worth protecting, basic elements like the striking avenue have been reinforced anew; the fields of flat graves, in contrast, have been rearranged. Seating areas with cedars invite contemplation. The eastern part has been supplemented with new forms of burial.
The plain was once made usable by farmers through intensive drainage pipes. We have brought back the stream, which had been culverted in this way, and made it an identity-forming element of the area in a near-natural way.
The valuable “Elfenau” garden monument has been upgraded by means of careful renovation and modified maintenance. By opening up overgrown visual connections, planting the meadows in a theatrical manner, and renovating the fountain, we have made it possible to experience the ideas behind the landscape garden once again.
Curved terraces overcome the striking difference in height between the Rhine River and the Novartis campus. The design vocabulary developed based on the flow of the river creates a special sort of riverbank promenade.
Since the redesign, the public park has been characterised by menhirs, which give the park a unique, identity-creating feature in the Munich park landscape.
The SS shooting range in Hebertshausen is a place of victims and perpetrators. Located not far from the Dachau concentration camp, the SS shooting range became the place of death for over 4,000 Russian prisoners of war from 1941 onwards. The identification of the victims has still not taken place completely, and the former shooting range is often the only place for the bereaved to commemorate their dead.
A loose “veil of trees” anchors Rudolf Bednar Park in the new city district and includes various offers—from a skater park to the tranquil district garden—under its canopy. Colorful play steles call to mind the reeds that were once found on the Danube floodplain.
The city of Winterthur has stored all maintenance plans for its open spaces in the GIS. They have commissioned us to scrutinise them with regard to possible developments by means of maintenance adjustments, to show the potential and to visualise it for ongoing maintenance.
The former aristocratic estate with agricultural meadows, pastures, vines and forest was transformed into a landscape garden in 1871 and has been maintained in an exemplary manner ever since. Since 2005, we have been accompanying the owners on the basis of our park maintenance work.
In the course of the renovation of the nursing center, we adapted and upgraded the existing park-like garden to fulfill current requirements. A varied circular path connects the seating areas in the shade of existing or newly created groves of trees.
The new center of Bassersdorf in the form of a spacious, urban public square was realized as the first puzzle piece of the planning of the center, followed by the path on the tracks of the old railway route. The Stadtpark (municipal park) will finally round off the new open spaces of Bassersdorf.
Within the framework of a cooperative planning process, we turned a parking area into an open, spacious public square for everyone. Benches in the shade of chestnut trees invite observing the goings-on around the new basin of water.
The university gardens are maintained by external horticultural companies. This service contract is put out to public tender every four years. We oversee this tender and the annual quality assurance for around 35 gardens in Zurich.
More space for pedestrians, cyclists and platanes as promenade trees. The cantilevered structure of the Danube promenade enables a new approach to the river.
Our design restores the garden monument, which had already been redesigned several times, to its original proportions. While the old trees have been retained, the beds of alternating flowers have been interpreted anew. In place of the orangery, an arbor of yew trees separates the parterre from the “Graben-Gärten.”
The magnificent, terraced Baroque garden has been thoroughly rehabilitated after years of neglect. The walls, paths, and all the plants have been renewed. Vegetables and flowers are planted and cultivated each year by neighbors, a school class, and the Bundesgärtnerei.
Play with the topography places the private gardens on a less visible level. In the play forests, sunken areas allow a retreat into nature in the midst of the densely built-up area.
The flower garden has been used for summertime gastronomy since the 1960s. It was restored to its original purpose in connection with the EXPO 2000. Our design respects the original structuring into three areas and interprets it in a novel way.
The town house complex, Bürkli-platz and the Bürkli terrace lie axially in front of the national bank. They form a hinge between the lake and the Limmat River.
The former clay quarry served as a landfill and was subsequently placed under nature protection. The surface water is not permitted to seep in. With large basins of water, we have created diverse habitats that—corresponding to the artificiality of the location—are also designed in an artificial way.
The parks along the Quai at the lower lake basin are an important site in Zurich and were already inaugurated at the location where the part of the lake was backfilled in 1887. We finely tailored a substantial part of the impressive chain of pearls consisting of various public squares and park areas to their intensive utilizations.
The garden, from 1760, at the Palais Rechberg is considered to be one of the most magnificent Baroque gardens in Zurich. Important elements have been preserved in the original and renovated. Individual contemporary flowerbeds show that our garden culture continues to be vibrant.
The classic landscape park has lost none of its appeal for over 130 years. We have renovated several areas over the last 30 years so that it will remain a vibrant part of Zurich for decades to come.
In the heart of Geneva, at the confluence of the Arve and Rhone rivers, a new park will be created, designed, planned and built together with the citizens. A piece of public space in a prominent urban landscape location will welcome the city's population in the future.
Moving the parking spaces under the ground enabled us to create a small and highly ecological park landscape for the clinic and community right in the centre of Cham.
For the Berlin landscape architect Gabriele G. Kiefer, we took over the overall management and execution for the construction of the Opfikerpark in the Glattpark district and handed it over to the city of Opfikon in December 2006 after 18 months each of planning and construction.
Life cycle costs are still a small topic in planning. They may not be so important in building construction, but they are more important than the construction costs, especially in green space maintenance. Green-Cycle was developed to make simple calculations in the planning phase.
Open spaces play a crucial roll in adapting settlement areas to the climate. For the Obersee agglomeration area, which consists of seventeen municipalities in three cantons, we are developing the basis and recommendations for action for promoting a temperate climate in settlement areas.
The abundant potentials of the Botanical Garden are being tapped to a greater extent. A new visitor center, the redesigned Italian Garden, an overhauled systems of paths, and new gardens with useful and ornamental plants now make the Botanical Garden that much more attractive.
The neighbourhood streets in the western part of Wil near the railway station, which are plagued by slow-moving traffic and parked vehicles, are being traffic-calmed with trees and green spaces and thus gain in quality of stay. The measures have already been successfully implemented in two sub-areas.
The pavilion-like school facility is situated in a landmarked garden where there is no space for either promoting biodiversity or space to play. It was possible to come up with a solution compatible with the location by means of a targeted upgrading of the roof surfaces, where it has been possible to achieve a clear improvement for biodiversity with minimum effort.
The spectacular view of the lake and mountains can be enjoyed throughout the experience of bathing at the Lido in Rapperswil, from the new seating steps along the pools of water, from the restaurant, and from the forecourt—facilitated by spacious openings in the building.
A new city park is being created on the site of the former railroad tracks. A grove of blossoming trees surrounds the expansive, central meadow. On the southern side, a generous sundeck offers a café and a wide range of opportunities for play.
The bridge over the Saigon River continues the tree-lined city square sculpturally on two levels. The Crescent Park offers intimate possibilities for relaxing and playing with terraced steps leading down to the river.
With the simple church forecourt and the serenely designed inner courtyard, the Benedictine Engelberg Abbey receives a welcome complement to the picturesque, sublime alpine landscape.
The situation on the periphery is characterized by a striking leap in scale. While the actual settlement area consists of a conglomerate of small buildings, gardens, and squares, the city segues abruptly into the large scale of the open landscape. Nature is incorporated into the settlement.
