Barcelona host of European Landscape
Biennial and Rosa Barba Prize

Chinese prize for Duch engineers

(Friday, May 11) The Dutch engineering firm DHV has won the international competition for the seaward extension to the Chinese port city of Tianjin with their masterplan for 43 square kilometres of reclaimed land, drawn up with de Architekten Cie. A square enclosure dam will protect the new district against high water, permit control over the tide and ensure good water quality. By dividing the area into islands the plan creates a variety of waterfront areas for urban development. (Joren Jacobs)

Slum areas and rubbish among the winners at Archiprix International

(Sunday, April 22) The winners of the International Archiprix 2007 have been announced. Seven graduation projects, chosen from two hundred entries from around the world in the fields of architecture, urban design and landscape architecture, received the prestigious design prize in Shanghai on 20 April.
Winners, Michael Smith and Robert Garita from Costa Rica, had come up with a design to improve the dangerous and deplorable conditions in the slum areas of San Jose. The district of Triangulo Solidario attracts a never-ending stream of desperate Costa Ricans in their search for work and a better life. The slums are not able to cope with this pressure and as a result the public spaces fill up and deteriorate, and the level of amenities cannot keep pace with the massive influx. In their design, Smith and Garita have attempted to arrange the public space efficiently so that the residents feel that it is a good and safe place to stay with plenty of amenities.
The Dutch students of landscape architecture, Gerwin de Vries and Alexander Herrebout, were also among the prize winners with their graduation project, called Dredge Landscape Park. Their project solves the problem of how to deal with polluted sludge. The polluted sludge is cleansed ingeniously in a park in Haarlemmermeerpolder near Amsterdam: part will be re-cycled in house-building, for instance, and part will be used in the development of a varied park area.
The other winners are Karimullin Timur and Dmitry Kulikov (Russia), Aleberto Fernandez (Chili), Hiroyuki Suga (Japan), Anna Heringer (Austria), and HongXiwen and GaoJunning (China).
The jury was made up of the Chinese professor, Zhiqiang Wu (Chairman), Dutch government architect Mels Crouwel, Martha Cecilia Fajardo, landscape architect from Colombia, Qing Yun Ma, architect from China and Shane Murray, professor at RMIT University of Australia. (Mark Hendriks)


Landscape prize for ‘visual delight’ by Scottish consultants

(Friday, March 2, 2007) On 19 January Scottish practice GROSS.MAX were presented with the European Landscape Architecture Award during the Urban Design Forum in Munich. The prize, awarded for the third time, was established by the German journal Topos. The prize is awarded to a landscape practice that is among the best designers in its own country and also has an international influence. The editors of Topos selected GROSS.MAX for its design concepts, including several competition entries which illustrate the practice’s unique style and creative flair. The jury summed up their approach as ‘the aesthetic experiment’, ‘visual delight’ and inventive play with a ‘variety of spatial experiences’. The practice has collaborated with CHORA on a design for the redevelopment of the Hofpleinviaduct in Rotterdam and Joost Grootens won the first prize for an archaeology park in Arnhem.GROSS.MAX is a group of landscape architects with a recognisable design style, said the jury. A style which is often fashioned in cooperation with architects and planners. The prize is in recognition of GROSS.MAX’s contribution to the landscape design profession. Their unique and innovative approach to projects provides fresh inspiration. (Hank van Tilborg)