Tuesday, 22 June 2021:
LILA 2021 jury completed the process of selecting winners out of 240 built projects. More than 400 products were considered for the product award. Editors of Landezine selected this year’s office award out of 171 submitted profiles and the honour award. Altogether, 13 awards and 5 special mentions were recognized.

Landezine thanks to all offices that submitted to LILA and especially invited jury members: Marianne Levinsen, Catherine Mosbach, Chloe J. Humphreys, Marti Franch and Andrew van Egmond.

With great pleasure, we announce LILA – Landezine International Landscape Awards 2021

LILA 2021 Honour Award Winner is Snøhetta

The LILA Honour Award 2021 celebrates Snøhetta for its trans-disciplinary approach to the design process and specifically the ability to merge thinking about landscape and architecture. The results are often precious urban moments that host and inspire. Their designs appear as fitting consequences of advanced and multi-layered narratives.

From ancient myths to the latest cutting edge technology, Snøhetta’s creations radiate a unique and always different blend of knowledge, craftsmanship, generosity and passion.

LILA 2021 Office of the Year Winner is TERREMOTO

The editors of Landezine were charmed by the portfolio of simple and well-thought-out spaces. But what made us fall for the office completely were their writings that reveal a liberating spirit and refreshing attitude behind their actions. TERREMOTO has the power to effortlessly challenge the old certainties and recipes our profession is based on. The result are spaces that are simply generous and look incredibly comfortable. This is everyday landscape architecture at its best. Every community needs a TERREMOTO. And our global professional community needs TERREMOTO even more – in their manifesto they write:
“TERREMOTO mines the omnipotence of intentional inexactitude, and flirts openly with illegibility. We strive, in many cases, to do as little as possible. We revere the history of landscape architecture, but also kind of want to destroy it.”
and:
“TERREMOTO believes that physical form is reason made visible, and thus philosophical subtexts and exploratory dialogues will eternally guide our work. Material daydreams, scientific walkabouts and the musical anarchy of horticulture, ecology, and art inform and inspire us.”
Epic! TERREMOTO 4ever!

LILA 2021 Ex-Aequo Winner in Public Landscapes is Quays of the River Schelde, Sint-Andries en Zuid, Antwerp by Proap

Whereas the project consists of various programmes, in essence, it is divided into a green part, where park-like structures meet the street and adjacent buildings. The outstanding part of it is a paved dike that protects the city from the river when it floods. The dike is entirely designed as an open public space, built of cobblestone. A playful folding of polygons ensures a vast open space and a unique landscape experience. In times of high waters, the visitors will be able to observe the flooding of the riverbank and the consequent frolics between the river and the newly established topography.

LILA 2021 Ex-Aequo Winner in Public Landscapes is The Park, recreational area Butzenbüel at Zurich Airport by Robin Winogrond with Studio Vulkan

The project is a poetic response to a palimpsest of natural and human-driven processes that shaped the site. One physical corpus was made by two different forces. The narrative states that the general perception of the artificial hill and the surrounding forest is a natural environment. They call it pseudo-nature.
Abstractly, it works because of the contrast between open and closed spaces, namely, an artificial forest with a forest ring and a clearing. The top of the hill is a small circular viewing platform made of polished concrete which references the geological structure of the moraine below the top of the hill. The viewing disc features fog-jets that produce an artificial cloud which acts as a poetic reference to flying, to being in the sky, to touching the sky. Entering the artificial cloud acts as a reference to moving through clouds when travelling by plane.
Beside the forest ring, the remaining forest area appears almost untouched, as it is under a nature conservation plan. Hence, maintenance is used as means of design. The project exposes many contradictions in our understanding of what is natural and what is artificial. It also provides a series of poetic ambiences and playful experiences on the hilltop.

LILA 2021 Winner of the Special Jury Award is Arsenal Oasis by Ruderal

Arsenal Oasis is an experimental project that in deals with found objects, most visibly, with the phenomenon of a broken pipe that provides water. The surface is reshaped to invite water and makes the planting of trees possible. Because the debris is left in place, the process of change is visible and readable. This newfound and unique roughness reflects a relevant dialogue between what was, what is, and the suggestion of what ought to be. The project addresses wider spatial issues in Tbilisi and will hopefully act as a catalyst to spark positive change regarding neglected areas in the city.

LILA 2021 Winner in Infrastructure Projects is Area development Ooijen-Wanssum by H+N+S Landscape Architects

H+N+S have, in their very own Dutch way, invented a new dike typology – innovative terrain modelling for more efficient and sustainable land use and simpler maintenance.

LILA 2021 Winner in Private Gardens is Forest garden, Nests house by Estudio Ome

With its lush vegetation, Forest Garden approaches the site as hybridization between the ecosystem of plants, animals and humans. It is a delicate way of setting up clearings in the forest to take advantage of resources (productive gardens, natural pools, tree regeneration) without disturbing it. Studio Ome effectively used all topographical facts, existing plants, sunlight, and other natural forces to empower a variety of programmes, needs, and, above all, experiential richness. They obviously appreciate randomness and a more relaxed approach to planting. The decision to leave the paths in the garden as informal compacted earth paths, shows a humble approach to landscaping work, which the members of the jury felt demonstrated a truly sensitive understanding of providing ‘just enough’ to meet the brief. In essence, the project emphasizes how we can leave space for nature, which is an important message going forward. Forest Garden offers a wonderfully dense atmosphere and infinite possibilities for exploration and observation.

LILA 2021 Winner in Hospitality is Hylla Cloudfall Nature Lounge by gad G+lab

Hylla Cloufall succeeds beautifully in creating a unique landscape on a roof. The design intent shows a more relaxed approach which our profession should be more aware of. They write: »the traditional buildings in Yunnan are also built with great freedom: the old craftsmen had no specific design for strict planning. They might suddenly pile a stone mill into the wall, and they didn’t care whether the edges and surfaces were properly handled … It’s all about randomness, imagination, and carelessness.«
The way the design uses a limited material pallet in different ways for different areas is remarkable. The jury also recognized its sense of craftsmanship, an approach that is always more sustainable than the ‘fast’ solutions that are detrimental to our planet.

LILA 2021 Winner in Schools and Playgrounds is Brettspiel (Board Game) by Sowatorini Landschaft

As any engaging playscape, Brettspiel welcomes young and old it can be many things at once. As both open and abstract, it encourages young explorers to make up games and invent rules. At the same time, visitors can find themselves in previously undiscovered situations and interacting with each other in new ways.

LILA 2021 Winner in Residential Landscapes is Valley Forest by Change Studio

The power of this project lies in the rich sequence of diverse ambiences it presents within a highly contrasting and difficult existing conditions. The design approach is contemporary, yet references to a more traditional Chinese garden design are seamlessly interwoven into a new experience. Although the park seems detached from the residential buildings due to topographical constraints, it is placed alongside dense housing, offering residents easy access to quiet contemplative niches. With its strongly artificial appearance, it juxtaposes a rougher and more natural surrounding valley that had been damaged by a series of infrastructural interventions. The use of materials is impressive and works well with the various native plant choices – a more ‘foresty’ style outside the pavilion, and mosses within it. Offering such an experience is truly a generous gift to the residents.

LILA 2021 Winner in Campuses and Corporate Landscapes is Vale of Springs by ArchiBlur Lab with Studio ++ with Wen ArtStudio

The project questions the restoration of the exterior spaces of a campus that has suffered from the degradation of time and the roots of large banyan trees. The design explores several modalities of porosity and hybridity between the inert and the living.

LILA 2021 Winner in Products is Terracota Planters by Domani

LILA 2021 jury recognized the terracotta planters by Belgian manufacturer Domani as outstanding achievements of traditional craftsmanship with a contemporary feel. With its materiality, Domani’s planters can bring a warm feel to a variety of intimate spaces.

LILA 2021 Winner in Products is Motive Lighting by Landscape Forms

Motive Lighting product family is a versatile range of products that can be easily incorporated into different ambiences. The jury recognized its simplicity and sophistication.