Vision
We are a design-office for landscape architecture, urban planning, outdoor space and object. The assignments which we work on are varied but always require the ability to generate new and creative ideas. We make up a young and enthusiastic team, within which several design disciplines are represented: landscape architecture, urban planning and industrial design.
Our source of inspiration is the landscape
Society continuously imposes differing demands on its environment. Each new generation adds a new layer to the landscape. As designers, we attempt to translate the demands made by our times on the environment into a new layer. We retain respect for the layers which have gone before while creating new chances for the future. Our most important priority in doing this is to cherish the experience of space. Space which has not been built upon is the foundation of our designs The use of space has become increasingly intensive and space which has been built upon predominates in our urban areas. This very fact results in a demand for forcefully and carefully designed spaces upon which no building has taken place. Much of our work is directed at the layout of gardens, squares, parks or of whole networks of public space. But, also when we are involved in making plans for new residential and work areas, landscapes or regions, it is the open space which inspires the foundation of our designs.
A good design is always taken for granted
Our ambition is to produce lucid spaces in which the major forces are recognizable and all elaboration of detail forms an essential part of the concept. Functionality is very important but a design in its totality is more than the sum of a programme of demands translated into space. Elements which are unusual or even cocksure can grant a space a healthy tension and poetic significance. Our office does not have a dogmatic design style. Our plans vary from restrained and unassuming to exuberant and compelling but remain in all cases designs which can be taken for granted on that site and within that programme. Designing is analysis Not only do the formulation of the problem and the program change for every assignment but also the social context and the spatial situation. This is the reason why the design process begins with an analysis of the question, or even better, the question lying behind the question. We attempt to penetrate to the gist of the formulation of the problem. Because it is only to a keenly formulated question that a sufficient answer can be given.
Our ambition is to work within an open planning process
The commissions we receive are often wide-ranging and they differ widely in character. We have become used to working with personnel from other disciplines, such as technicians, ecologists, practitioners of planned economy, architects and artists. Just as when we work within our firm, working within a planning team requires a continuous and on-going debate about the assignment. This makes demands on the authority granting the commission as well as on all the other members of the planning team. At least as important is aspiring to an open planning process with the future users of the site, because they shall ultimately provide the space with the significance it is to have. The actual task here is not to become bogged down in compromises, but to continue to make clear choices together