R&D Headquarters. Designed by Eric Parry Architects. 2021. Singapore.
The Wilmar headquarters is one of many buildings in Singapore that combine architecture and greenery after former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew planned for the city-state to become a "city in a garden". Landscape flows both above and beneath the building's seven storeys, with a new garden square created by raising the main body of the building as well as a cascade of garden terraces that provide a continuation of the parkland environment up and over the building's roof.
Confluence Park by Lake | Flato Architects, Matsy’s Design & Rialto Studios, inc. 2018.
Confluence Park is a living laboratory that allows visitors to gain a greater understanding of the ecotypes of the South Texas region and the function of the San Antonio River watershed. Throughout the park, visitors learn through observation, engagement and active participation.
Located at the confluence of the San Antonio River and San Pedro Creek, the idea of confluence is ingrained in every aspect— from big gestures like the landform of the park representing the convergence of ecotypes in the South Texas region, to the pavilion “petals” imitating the form of plants that are structured to funnel dew and rainwater to their roots, down to the scale of the paver patterns reminiscent of the flow and confluence of waterways.
House Mellinet by Atelier Fréderic Louis @atelierfredericlouis . 2022.
The design – created in collaboration with interior designer Sarah De Pauw – celebrates the building's existing curved details. The rounded details of an art-deco-style facade are repeated throughout the interior of this house in Antwerp, which has been renovated by Atelier Fréderic Louis.
Belgian architect Fréderic Louis has modernised the layout of House Mellinet, replacing the previously separate kitchen and living room with a large, open family room that opens out to the rear garden.
Landesgartenschau Wassertrüdingen by Planorama Landschaftsarchitektur (2019)
For the Bavarian Garden Show 2019, the City of Wassertrüdingen decided to strengthen and expand its key green and recreational areas. The reference to water (Wasser) in the city‘s name is made tangible as an important element of the site. Two recreational areas with individual characters were created and linked by a green ribbon running through the city. The Klingenweiher landscape Park (approx. 71,000 m2) in the north has, as its main natural features, a range of small, sustainably developed ponds. This park is accessed and enjoyed via a bespoke walkway, whose golden cladding accompanies it as it transforms into bridges and piers. A lookout point atop a hill provides views over the entire surrounding landscape. At the southern end of the park, a large woodland playground adds a pleasurable conclusion to the project.
Ishihara Park by Studio-MLA (2017)
Just three years ago, Ishihara Park was a parking lot. The long and narrow 2.35 acre (.95 hectare) site located in the City of Santa Monica was reimagined as a linear park to mitigate a planned Metro light rail maintenance facility built adjacent to a quiet residential neighbourhood. The park provides an important visual and environmental buffer between nearby residents and the industrial facility and offers new opportunities for recreation and respite. A robust community engagement process with residents and stakeholders unearthed the site’s potential and informed the park’s design. Residents wanted the park to serve the community, care for ecology, offer a place for all to play, support physical activity, and celebrate the culture and history of the neighbourhood.
Fanø Bad revitalization by MASU Planning (2017)
With a small budget, you may not be able to transform everything at once, but by making a few well-informed changes, you can set the direction for the future. Fanø Bad has a glamorous past of coastal tourism by the sublime Wadden Sea on the Danish West Coast. However, the unique feel had faded – the town appeared worn down and the connection to the beautiful surrounding landscape was weak. We set out to rediscover the town’s visual and tangible history. We found reminiscences of an old brick promenade and used it as a bridge between the historic and the current town, which lead to a long-term strategy on how to revitalize the town.
Baakenpark by Atelier LOIDL (2018)
Baakenpark has a remarkable topography with several plateaus of different heights. The highest peak at the eastern end of the peninsula is the 15 m high Himmelsberg, a panoramic point visible from afar. When exploring the park, visitors are offered surprising shifts in perspective and varied insights and views. As a green area, the park offers recreation with a variety of sports, play and recreation possibilities and is an optical-aesthetic point of reference in the middle of the harbour basin. The bridge from Versmannkai to Baakenpark provides pedestrians and cyclists with a direct link between the northern and southern parts of the new city quarter. The peninsula itself is accessed by a circular path along the shoreline.
Due to the special flood protection requirements, the playgrounds and lawns of the park were laid out on three plateaus. The three plateaus are clearly different in their uses and atmospheres: in the western part a sport and play area dominates, the middle level offers a play and sunbathing area with the gallery of banks, in the east the “Himmelsberg” rises away from the hustle and bustle as the highlight.
Shanghai MOMA Museum Waterfront Park by YIYU Design (2017)
As the key post industrial remain in Shanghai, the Shanghai MOMA Museum Waterfront served as infrastructure for coal transportation and storage in the past. Nevertheless, the function of the coal industry gradually disappeared in time. To search its modern functions, the project modified the previous coal industry waterfront into new open spaces for shanghai citizens, and transform the coal storage building into a new urban icon, the Shanghai MOMA Museum.
Buffalo Bayou Promenade
by SWA Group (2006)
SWA was retained to create a master plan and subsequent full landscape architectural services through two miles of some of the most challenging urban conditions: overhead freeways and utilities, steep slopes, limited access and critical flood water elevations. The project converts a once neglected eyesore—intimidating to pedestrians and detrimental to flood control efforts—into 3,000 linear feet of urban parkland providing a gateway to downtown Houston and adding over 20 acres of park space to Houston’s inner city. The project features naturalization of gently sloping banks, extensive native landscaping, hike and bike trails, public art, dramatic artistic lighting, 12 new street-to-bayou entryways, stairs and ramps reconnecting people to the bayou, a major north-to-south pedestrian bridge, way-finding, and interpretive signage.
D’LEEDON by ICN Design International (2015)
Within Singapore’s prestigious Bukit Timah district, this highly prized location had a special character of rolling topography, surrounded by mixed public housing and lower rise neighbourhoods. With the removal of outmoded developments the ground became much more visible and exposed significant level changes. This offered both opportunities and challenges to creating an iconic landscape for the futuristic Zaha Hadid designed residential enclave.
Meeting the challenges of design vision, site and programme ICN mediated a series of contrasting values; strong architectural lines with useable people spaces, and site levels with unique new 3-dimensional forms. The landscape of d’Leedon is expressed in distinct bands; rock, forest, water and meadow, responding to site topography and relating back to the flower shaped towers. Each band has a different character and ambience, created by distinctive plant species and encapsulating special amenity clusters for outdoor living.
Landscape features include:
Water zone aquascapes
Multiple sports and recreation facilities
Outdoor sculpture gallery
Hanging gardens
Private gardens
Garden of Seven Moments by Atelier de Molfetta Strode (2015)
Divided into seven intertwined moments, which are also distinct spaces, the garden defines key episodes within the property that are characterised by topographic conditions, sun and wind exposure, and vegetation complexity. Every moment is also a specific place, intimately connected to the surrounding landscape through views or trails.
The project introduces a new concept of ‘domesticated wilderness’ to the region, traditionally characterised by static gardens that have stood for decades indecisively between the picturesque Alpine territory and the exotic Mediterranean landscape. In order to break with the repetition of this postcard-like pattern, the landscape project for this site introduces a selected mix of native and non-native shrubs and grasses, which manage to anchor the architectural volume to the sloping terrain. The result is a blending of vegetation and topography that allows for a complex inhabitation of the garden and a more dynamic perception of the surrounding landscape.
Changsha Xiang River West Bank Commercial & Tourism Landscape Zone by GVL Work (Design year 2016)
Known as the hometown of the famous patriots Qu Yuan and Jia Yi, and the cradle of the traditional Chinese culture, Changsha is now a famous city for entertainment culture. From a small ancient town to today’s international city, Changsha has been updating itself through reforming and exploring. In the Riverside Park along the west bank of the Xiang River, GVL has designed a 2.45 km long landscape zone for both commerce and tourism. It will further update the international image of Changsha City. Changsha has always been built along the two banks of the Xiang River since ancient times. Based on the Riverside Park which is planned to be the “international financial center” and the “core of the CBD”, GVL’s design team has taken advantage of the 2.45 km long waterfront resources to create a landscape zone which will greatly improve the international status of Changsha City. From the perspective of operation, the design team has taken advantages of superior waterfront resources, hoping to create a complex landscape zone which integrates tourism, commerce, recreation, culture and sports. Upon completion, it will be an urban open space which meets everyday demands and provides a sense of belonging. With Tanshan Road on the north and Yinpenling Bridge 150 m to the south, the site is opposite to downtown Changsha and the four government buildings, enjoying rich ecological and landscape resources. However, the long and narrow site is lack of spaces for experience, interaction and recreation, which doesn’t match the position of the Riverside Park.
