’scape magazine #2 / 2025

Follow the River / 

designs that make her beautiful - from source to coast

In this new issue of ’scape magazine we show how designers cherish the river and create beautiful projects along the water. Projects in which the river is approached with care, love, knowledge, and creativity, whether far upstream or at the very end, at the mouth. We have collected twelve such projects and placed them along an imaginary river that rises in the mountains of central Europe and then flows through Canada, the United States, Thailand, and Portugal before emptying into the Dutch delta. And it resonates. The issue is an ode to the river, as exquisite as she is, wherever her course may lead, from source to estuary.

You visit the redesigned source area of the Danube river in Germany – and discover ecologic values that have been restored. You will be suprised by the tiny village of Bondo in the south of Switzerland that was beautifully rebuild after suffering from a landslide years ago. You enjoy rivers in Canada and the US, canoeing down the wild, rushing Bow River bend, musing in Tom Lee Park along the Mississippi in Memphis, cycling through the green oasis along Buffalo Bayou in Houston. Downstream, the river needs space, and it is given space, just like the Meuse in the Netherlands. You discover new types of dykes that subtly contribute to a safe and characteristic landscape. That safety and tangible beauty go hand in hand is also evident at some special new designed places along the coast of the Netherlands. And just before, you were wandering through a park in the Thai coastal city of Bangkok with a new, versatile sponge landscape that replaced an industrial complex. And along the Tagus in Portugal, a beautiful boardwalk leads you over the unique estuary nature.

Along the course of our river you find inspiring interviews with Tim Gämperle - who made a study of the Bietschbach Valley – and Martina Voser - she designed the cathment basin of the Bondasca. In-depth essays take you to the complex interrelationships of water systems and to the self building potential of coastal landscapes. And once at the sea you find a surprising visual story of walking dunes, of monks that took a refuge on the high dunes, of new insights that seek for nature developments, and of artists that draw the change.

Please note that this issue is also available as a book. More information can be found here.

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Contributors to this issue:

Daphne de Bruijn, Michaël van Buuren, Harry Harsema, Han Meyer, Eleni Mente, Usue Ruiz Arana, Axel Simon, Djuna Spreksel, Linn Stevensson
with thanks to Kamille Augustinus Hansson, Janine Bruinooge, Loek Buter, Tim Gämperle, Anders Kling, Yvonne Koster, Pool 
landscape, Martina Voser and all the offices and designers in this issue

Designers in this issue

SWA Group, SCAPE, mavo Landschaften, Turenscape, H+N+S landscape architects, OKRA landscape architects, LOF, West 8, Topiaris, 365º freiraum+umwelt, O2 planning and design, Tim Gämperle.