De Urbanisten

A dedicated team De Urbanisten is a renowned office for urban design and landscape architecture based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The office was founded in 2009 by Florian Boer and Dirk van Peijpe. Today, De Urbanisten consists of an international team of about twelve urban designers and landscape architects. The team is curious by nature, […]

The park operates as a life-catcher, drawing in both human and non-human agencies. It is conceived as a public space whose primary function is ecological, where human presence is invited yet not prioritized. Through a subtle modulation of topography, the park amplifies the temporal rhythms of tidal fluctuations, transforming a gently graded surface into a dynamic substrate for biodiversity and spontaneous development.

While introducing softness to the pragmatism of an urban harbour environment, the design employs a sober formal language – orthogonal gabions and descending stair-like structures serve as deliberate counterpoints to the unpredictability and apparent disorder of non-human life processes. In this clear interplay between geometric precision and biological contingency, the park stages an ongoing negotiation between control and emergence, order and flux. It becomes not only a site of encounter but also a quiet manifesto on the coexistence of human intention and ecological autonomy.

Sponge concept and research The climate is changing: the rain is heavier and the dry periods between are lasting longer. How can we moderate these two extremes? In urban environments rainwater currently drains through sewers to prevent flooding, but that also causes more drought. In the future there will be even a need for larger […]