03. April 2012 /
Rosa Barba European Landscape Prize
The Rosa Barba European Landscape Prize will be announced during the 7th European Landscape Biennial which will take place on September 27 and 28 in Barcelona. The Rosa Barba European Landscape Prize is open to all kind of...
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03. April 2012 /
The IFLA Americas Conference 2012
The IFLA Americas Conference 2012 will be held in Medellin, Colombia, from October 17 to 20 with the topic “Borders: landscapes on the alert...”, organized by the International Federation of Landscape Architects IFLA, and the...
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03. April 2012 /
IMCL International Urban Revitalization Award
The International Making Cities Livable Council will award the 2012 IMCL International Urban Revitalization Award for Ecuador's nation-wide program "The Plaza: A Place of Encounter", a visionary project to revitalize social life...
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03. April 2012 /
Call for papers: Designing nature as infrastructure
The symposium “Designing nature as infrastructure” proposes a platform on which researchers and practitioners working in landscape-related disciplines can engage in a discussion about a current main topic:...
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03. April 2012 /
EFLA Student & Young Professionals Competition
The EFLA Student & Young Professionals Competition gives a chance to share projects, ideas and sites with landscape architecture practitioners throughout Europe. The competition aims to help up and coming designers to get...
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28. March 2012 /
New River Park in Singapore
Just in time for the World Water Day 2012, the Bishan Park in Singapore redesigned by Atelier Dreiseitl was opened. As part of a much-needed park upgrade and plans to improve the capacity of the Kallang River along the edge of...
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27. March 2012 / Daniel Jauslin
Aberdeen City Garden – Beyond Landscape or Architecture
A team around the New York based Architects Diller, Scofidio & Renfro DS+R won a competition for the Aberdeen City Garden in January 2012 together with OLIN and Keppie Design. The proposal supported by a private deed to the...
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13. March 2012 / Jessica Bridger
FUTURELAND!
A recent field trip was out to the Maasvlakte 2 project out in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Maasvlakte is a project that will create over 2,000 hectares of new land at the edge of Rotterdam's existing port.
The Port of...
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15. February 2012 / Jessica Bridger
Skating the Canals
It is almost impossible for new transportation infrastructure and public space to appear in a city over the course of a few weeks. Yet, thanks to mother nature, just that happened in Amsterdam. The whole of Europe has been...
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14. February 2012 / Jessica Bridger
Chairs!
Everyone loves movable urban furniture. There is something almost perversely pleasing about choosing the place and position of public furniture. The classic wood and metal Parisian chairs, copied for New York City's Bryant...
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02. February 2012 / Peter Zöch
Interview with Adriaan Geuze
On the evening of the 2 February the BKVB, the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, granted a lifetime achievement award to Adriaan Geuze, one of the founders and partner of West 8 urban design and...
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30. January 2012 / Thomas Jakob
Urban Quality Award documentation now available
Eurohypo AG and Topos magazine presented the Urban Quality Award on 29 November (see Topos 77, page 6), which has now been documented in an accompanying publication. It describes in detail all those projects which achieved an...
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30. January 2012 / Jessica Bridger
Seeing the Trees (for the Forest)
This map is the result of a six year project by the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC), the US Forest Service and the US Geological Survey, led by Josef Kellndorfer and Wayne Walker. Together they have made the most...
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26. January 2012 /
American Planning Association Awards
The American Planning Association (APA) named the winners of the 2012 National Planning Excellence Awards. The planners and others responsible for the 14 projects selected for outstanding planning and advocacy will be honored...
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24. January 2012 / Jessica Bridger
Landscape as Facilitator, Landscape as Mediator
A recent trip up to Copenhagen allowed a look at a range of landscape projects in a difficult season – winter. The winter in Copenhagen is cold, stormy and due to its position in the north, fairly dark. At mid-winter the sun is...
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23. January 2012 / Jessica Bridger
Malene Hauxner, 1942 - 2012
Malene Hauxner, a well known Danish Landscape architect, author and professor has passed away at the age of 70 in Denmark, on January 18th, 2012. She will be remembered as one of the most important theorists working in...
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12. January 2012 / Jessica Bridger
Le:Notre Forum: A New Kind of Landscape Event
From 18 - 21 April 2012 the first Le:Notre Forum event will take place in Antalya, Turkey. Hosted by Akdeniz University, and organized by the Le:Notre Institute, the Forum is intended as a new approach to international...
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09. January 2012 / Jessica Bridger
Focus On: South Africa
As many Topos readers know, the 2012 International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) Congress will take place from the 5th to the 7th of September 2012 in Cape Town South Africa. South Africa, and more importantly...
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04. January 2012 / Asan Suwanarit
Big Cleaning Day: The Challenge for Thai Landscape Architects after the Floods
This year the celebrations of His Majesty the King’s 84th birthday have given new hope to Thailand. On December 5th, King Bhumibol Adulyadej appeared on the balcony of the Chakri Maha Prasat Throne Hall within the Grand Palace,...
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20. December 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Kijong Dong – Potemkin Landscape
Oddities in the built environment as the result of political forces underline the power of the landscape. North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il recently passed away in mid-December 2011. The eccentric leader of the world’s...
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20. December 2011 / Stefan Leppert
A painter with a modest plant palette - On the death of Wolfgang Oehme
The German-American landscape architect Wolfgang Oehme has passed away. He died on 15 December in Baltimore aged 81. Even though he emigrated to the USA in 1957 he always maintained links with Germany which gave many people the...
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19. December 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Hot off the Press! Topos 77: Making Space
Here is a preview of the cover of Topos 77: Making Space. Featuring articles by Kongjian Yu, Matthew Urbanski, Christophe Girot and Jörg Rekittke, and many more the issue is an exciting look into what it takes for landscape...
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19. December 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Film Review: Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
The 2010 film, Happy People by Werner Herzog and Dimitry Vasiyukov comes as a landscape revelation. The film is shot as a year-long documentary of the lives of fur trappers living in the Taiga in Sibera. The film opens with...
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15. December 2011 /
Adriaan Geuze wins Lifetime Achievement Award
Adriaan Geuze, one of the founders and partner of West 8 urban design and landscape architecture of Rotterdam, has been awarded a lifetime achievement award from the BKVB, the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and...
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12. December 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Final Call for Nominations: 2012 Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award
Nominations for the 2012 Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award are due by December 31st, 2011. The Jellicoe Award is the highest honor that the International Federation of Landscape Architects bestows on professionals in landscape...
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09. December 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Book Review: Gateway: Visions for an Urban National Park
Wild urban nature is not the image that immediately springs to mind when most people consider New York City and its metropolitan area. Yet stretches of wild vegetation, diverse animal habitat, sandy shorelines and more “nature”...
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09. December 2011 / Jessica Bridger
DO NOT DESIGN CHAIRS! A bit of fun on a Friday
This public service announcement video by two Finnish designers pleads with designers all around the world to not design chairs in 2012. Helsinki Finland is the World Design Capital 2012. Enjoy.
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08. December 2011 / Jessica Bridger
In the Park, in the Dark
A recent visit took Topos to New York City, where the High Line’s second section was high on the list of projects to visit. Having heard from local landscape architects that the park was unusually nice at night, a trip was made...
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01. December 2011 / Tanja Gallenmüller
Plac Bohaterów Getta by Piotr Lewicki and Kazimierz Latak wins the Urban Quality Award
On 29 November 2011, the Urban Quality Award (formerly the International Urban Landscape Award) was presented in Frankfurter Westhafen, by Eurohypo Bank and Topos Magazine. The issue of urban quality was one of the jury panel’s...
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01. December 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Architecture is for Everyone! The New NAi
After an extensive renovation, the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) has reopened in Rotterdam. On a recent Sunday afternoon there was an inspiring range of visitors to the NAi. Families with children, young couples,...
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29. November 2011 / Peter Zöch
Seoul: International park competition
Applications for the international design competition for a masterplan for Yongsan Park in Seoul are being received until 12 December. The 240-hectare site on a former US army base is to be opened up for the inhabitants of...
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24. November 2011 / Wolfram Höfer
The Second Wave of Modernism II Conference
Sequels may feel a little dull, but this follow-up of the 2008 Chicago conference on the influence of modernism in today’s landscape architecture was a very inspiring event (held on 18 November at MoMA, New York, with Topos as...
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23. November 2011 /
IFLA 2012: Early Bird Registration
The 49th IFLA World Congress will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 5 to 7 September 2012 with the topic of “Landscapes in Transitions”, organized by the International Federation of Landscape Architects and The Institute...
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17. November 2011 / Peter Zöch
Publication on Dutch water urbanism
Living on water and near water – is not a completely new challenge but one that has been neglected for a long time. Climate change and flood disasters, growing cities and a lack of space raise the necessity to deal with water...
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15. November 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Topos on the Road: November 18 & 19 in New York City
Topos is on the road this week! On Friday, November 18th we will be in attendance at the Second Wave of Modernism Conference at MoMA. There are still a few tickets left for this almost sold out event - so sign up quickly if...
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15. November 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Venice Biennale Mystery Deepens: Correction!
As some of you might be aware, about a month before Silvio Berlusconi's resignation as Italian Prime Minister this week, he removed long-time Biennale Director Paolo Barrata, attempting to replace him with a food imports...
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14. November 2011 / Robert Schäfer
Bourgeois, Zumthor and the Witches
Whoever comes to Vardø, does so for a reason. Arctic winds sweep across the Barents Sea and fewer and fewer residents live in this remote city in the far north of Norway. Since fishing became unprofitable, Vardø is left vacant,...
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11. November 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Getting Lifted
Sometimes all we need to adjust our perception is a change in vantage-point or in situation. The familiar becomes unfamiliar and we are led to learn new things about our surroundings. As we commonly perceive the landscape from...
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11. November 2011 / Jessica Bridger
David Chipperfield: Curator of the 2012 Venice Biennale for Architecture
It has just been announced that architect David Chipperfield will be the curator for the 2012 Venice Biennale for Architecture. The 13th biennale for architecture will take place in Summer 2012, at sites around Venice. Over...
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11. November 2011 / Peter Zöch
EFLA Regional Conference: Mind the Gap
The EFLA regional conference, the first of its kind, was held from 2 to 4 November, 2011 in Tallinn, Estonia. The theme of the conference was “Mind the Gap: Landscapes for a New Era.” This broad theme focused on urban...
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09. November 2011 / Asan Suwanarit
New Thailand: An Alternative Future for Bangkok After the Floods
After two weeks of fear and flooding, Bangkok has returned to its origins as an island city. Recent aerial pictures confirm a picture of a sprawling city besieged by a massive surge of water. Most highways and railways serving...
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08. November 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Biking Under the River: The Maastunnel
The Maastunnel is a commuter tunnel that runs over half a kilometer deep beneath the Maas River in Rotterdam. The standard tunnel for cars and trams has an unusual parallel tube – an emergency tunnel that doubles as a tube...
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07. November 2011 / Robert Schäfer
Snøhetta: Well Stacked Mountain Chalet
Someone who opens up his architectural office above the famous Dovrehallen pub in Oslo, who lets Paolo Conte serve as inspiration for an important design competition, who builds at Ground Zero and who made Utzorn's Sydney Opera...
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03. November 2011 / Topos Editorial Staff
Turenscape Win at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona
Turenscape, with principal Kongjian Yu, have been announced as the winners of the landscape category at the 2011 World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, from a shortlist of seven international firms. The project awarded is...
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02. November 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Topos 76 Release November 19th at Van Alen Books in NYC
On Saturday, November 19th at 5pm Van Alen Books (part of the Van Alen Institute) is hosting our Topos 76 "Crisis Landscapes" New York release party. We will present the issue and the diverse topics that it covers, and discuss...
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28. October 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Take it to the Street!
27. October 2011 / Peter Zöch
Now open: Viewing tower at Seljord Lake, Norway
“Seljord and the Legends,” a project by Feste Landscape Architects, Rintala Eggertson Architects und Springer Culture Studio of Norway, highlights site-specific installations at Seljord Lake in Norway. A new viewing tower,...
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26. October 2011 / Sirle Salmistu
EFLA Regional Congress in Tallinn
“Mind the Gap: Landscapes for a New Era” is the theme of the EFLA Regional Congress, held in Tallinn from the 2nd to the 4th of November, 2011. The conference, with Topos as media partner, focuses on urban landscapes and...
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24. October 2011 / Asan Suwanarit
Bangkok Floods: Natural Events That Become Man-Made Disasters
Over the past few months there have been many reports of heavy rainfall in Thailand’s Northern Region. The water has continued to flow on to the Central Plain causing rising levels in the Chao Phraya River and its branches. In...
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21. October 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Crisis Landscapes: Cyprien Gaillard’s Artefact
Vast desert landscapes roll by in jerky camera work, as sunny as they are wrought with some unknown despair. A man in white is lit up by multiple green laser sights, spun out across a rippling sand desert, all under night’s...
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20. October 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Park at Gleisdreieck
Sometimes large projects can be partially eclipsed by gigantic ones. Sometimes beautiful projects can be eclipsed by popular ones. In the case of the park at Gleisdreieck by Atelier Loidl in Berlin, both are true. The Tempelhof...
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19. October 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Formal Involvement Beyond the Form: Metropolis Nonformal
Over time the discourse in design has swung widely between what design can and can’t do. The truth of the matter is that design has such a broad range of applications and avenues of address, that the only sure thing about...
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17. October 2011 / Topos Editorial Staff
Eurohypo Urban Quality Award 2011 Finalists
As media partner with Eurohypo for the 2011 Urban Quality Award, we would like to inform Topos readers about the four exciting finalists for the prize. The Urban Quality Award seeks to award projects that make a significant...
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13. October 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Growing Far From Home
A recent article in the New York Times highlights the growing population of refugees in the United States who are establishing farms. This takes up the ongoing trend of a renewed interest in small-scale farming in the US, from...
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30. September 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Topos 76: Crisis Landscapes
We would like to announce the release of our latest issue, Topos 76: Crisis Landscapes - we are very excited about this issue, and think that all our readers will find it interesting, enlightening and even ispiring. As we move...
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29. September 2011 / Efe Gönenc, Susanne Prehl
Before the Earthquake – After the Earthquake: Public Space in Istanbul.
29. September 2011 / Alan Berger
Exterial Landscape
The result of economic and political decisions that were made without consideration of externalities, Exterial Landscapes involve costly environmental damage that can enable change and reclaimation to ensure that the errors are...
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29. September 2011 / Anthony Acciavatti
A Well-Developed Plan: Wet Monumentality
Competing political motivations, overlapping bureaucracies, and cultural pratices problematize the creation of an overall concept for the Ganges basin, crucial for the region’s water system, which is in a perpetual state of...
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29. September 2011 / Mohamed Elshahed
Tahrir Square: Origins and Futures
The ongoing political upheval in Egypt has drawn attention to the various public stages for protests, demonstrations and other exercises of free speech, and none more so than Tahrir Square in Cairo. The history of Tahrir...
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28. September 2011 / Christian Werthmann
Designing Process: The Exemplar Community Zoranje in Haiti
Almost two years after the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, unclear land ownership and a lack of good governance impede reconstruction. In response to these limitations, Zoranje is a planned settlement northwest ofthe...
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