Our award-winning office was found in 2008 and has grown since then to a team of 12 colleagues.
We are always seeking for new ways to find the special history that every place holds within, this enables us to let the story influence our design of the landscape.
One of our specialist areas is roof greening and facade greening. We believe that these areas are the main keys of modern landscape architecture and for the cities of the future.
The role model of the planting on the bunker is the natural vegetation. Every level and height is planted with different kind of vegetation which is most suitable to the meteorological conditions such as wind and storms. One of our main goals is to have a largely evergreen planting.
We didn’t want to create the image of an english garden, we were aiming for a natural like looking vegetation. The planting will be tousled by the wind and the bushes and trees will have a slanting growth. The impression of the building and its planting will fit into the streetscape of the district, which is influenced by art and street culture.
With the construction of the department of urban development and environment located on the Elbisland of Wilhelmsburg the city of Hamburg has received a new prestigious building. Six different exterior spaces are complementing the new building: courtyard garden, elm avenue, schoolyard, delivery, garden terraces and extensive greening on the roofs of the entire building. Approximately half of the outside surfaces are located on built-over areas as extensive and intensive vegetation. In combination with the landscaping of the external areas the building meets the guidelines for the gold certificate for sustainable construction from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen (DGNB).
The idea of the conception of the external areas is guided by historical and contemporary landscapes of Hamburg and Northern Germany. The expression of the courtyard garden is embodied by a grass landscape, which is inspired by the pathways in the tideway landscape, as for instance seen close to the BSU in the national park Heuckenlock located in the south of Wilhelmsburg. The garden terraces show a linear structure of the vegetation, which is typical for the marsh landscape in northern Germany. The structure loosens by Pine trees, which are bizarrely shaped by the forces of wind typically seen at Northern German coasts.
A new character of the square is proposed, that offers the necessary multifunctionality for events and also forms a clear and identity-creating expression. Areas are regained from car traffic and made available for comprehensive use such as markets, events, gastronomy, water games and green qualities. The extended schoolyard and 200 parking spaces for bikes align in relation to the building of the highschool. The square is taken by its edges and from there it’s provided with quality of life and invitation to stay. The extended schoolyard and the bike parking spaces are covered by a loose planting of Amur maple (Acer ginnala), which in their arrangement reminds of the shape of an abacus. Westward to Marktstraße the marketplace displays its self with “Green Arcades”. The area of Marktstraße is included in the design of the square and forms a “shared space”.
The original intension to locate the Alexander’s church as dominant as possible and exposed at the mountainside, thereby seeking the relation to the Annachapel at the historic Kirchweg, is now difficult to read in the grown town center of Wallenhorst. The distinctive figure of the centre of Wallenhorst is Saint Alexander’s church, raised on a mountain throne. This image has to be elaborated more clearly. The topographical play is staged on concisely terraces, which are barrier-free accessible with generous ramps. Small greenery is withdrawn for the benefit of the exemption of the remarkable old trees. Instead solitaires pilgrimages alongside the historic church path towards the church.
The relationship between Anna’s chapel and Alexander’s church, which was intended from the origin, is created by an arrangement of stairs. Thus the gently stepped church square with the green terraces of the church hill is experienced as the central square for local life. As addition there will be established small-scaled squares with outside gastronomic qualities and this way there evolve an extended landscape of the town square, which invites to stay and experiences.