Articles
Eleni Tsirintani: Why abandoned buildings and empty spaces are a problem in Athens
… Η Αθήνα είναι ένα τρισδιάστατο μωσαϊκό, αν θα μπορούσε να υπάρξει κάτι τέτοιο. Το φυσικό, το ανθρωπογενές, το παλιό, το νέο και πολλές άλλες ενδιάμεσες καταστάσεις πλέκονται χωρικά και χρονικά. Πρόκειται για μια πόλη όπου κυριαρχεί το αναπάντεχο, με τη θετική ή την αρνητική του έννοια …
Out ● site ● rs #5 | An Interview with Maria Goula
Maria’s research explores the interaction of man-made landscapes with water. The way we design and, eventually experience our coexistence with the marine element, as well as the alternatives and the strategies that would improve this interaction. Maria suggests that we took a step back and instead of comprehending the coastal line as rigid linearity, consider it differently.
Out ● site ● rs #4 | An Interview with Lily Bakratsa
Contemporary London is a hectic and vibrant City hard to integrate to. Lily felt the need to become part of the City and that is how she came up with the idea of “It’sallgreentome”. It derives from her personal desire to connect and communicate with other people, using creativity and personal expression. Lily approaches her workshops both in terms of spacial design and personal connection.
Out ● site ● rs #3 | An Interview with Dimitra Theochari
Dimitra Theochari acknowledged the importance of landscape architecture, when in Paris during her Erasmus program. Her tiny home kept her mostly outdoors, enjoying and exploring public spaces. She was intrigued by the ways open spaces were used and inhabited. She also realized that this is actually “democratic” space, since it belongs to and includes everyone.
Out ● site ● rs #2 | An Interview with Michalis Piroccas
Michalis Piroccas was born in Cyprus. He studied architecture in Patras and continued his studies on Landscape Architecture in Harvard Graduate School of Design. He works in Boston as a Landscape Architect and, at the same time, he develops a system of mapping the landscape using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
Out ● site ● rs #1 | An Interview with Vasiliki Bei
… I was intrigued by the large scale and the ability of landscape to transform in time, as a result of both natural processes and human interpretation and intervention. There is a certain flexibility and creative freedom when it comes to landscape design. I was also fascinated by the influence landscape architecture could achieve …
Land-shapers #5 | An Interview with Fili Iliopoulou
Fili Iliopoulou is an architect (A.U.Th. 2005) and a landscape architect (Graduate School of Design, Harvard University MLA 2008). Her work focuses on landscapes balancing between the past and the present in a new, contemporary and dynamic way.
Land-shapers #4 | An Interview with Eleni Georgiadi
Art was always part of E.Georgiadi’s interests. She took on painting from a very early age.During that time she felt the urge to create something that applied on everyday life. This is what led her to landscape design in the first place. Function, utility and the aesthetic aspect were crucial criteria on choosing her profession.
Land-shapers #3 | An Interview with Nella Golanda
Nella Golanda has her own special, creative process. Sketches of various scales shape the first images of a project. Physical models allow a more profound research on every matter and help to communicate her thoughts in order to proceed with the construction. She works everything to excessive detail. Once a work of art has been completed she never attempts to alter or improve it, because there is no need to. Besides, what really matters to her is how people inhabit and experience her sculptural landscapes.
Land-shapers #2 / An Interview With Topio 7 | Katerina Andritsou, Panita Karamanea, Thanasis Polyzoidis
Landscape architecture is about working with nature and defining the conditions of coexistence between human-made and natural. Landscape design is a creative challenge and a source of inspiration for architects.
Land-shapers #1 / An Interview with Katerina Gkoltsiou
“Landscapes architecture is concerned with the planning and design of land and water for use by society on the basis of an understanding of these systems” (M.Laurie, 1986). Landscape architecture includes landscape planning, landscape design and landscape management. Among the tasks of the landscape architect’s job is to create beautiful and functional places which will be sustainable and appropriate to serve people’ needs and to protect the environment.
Thessaloniki New Waterfront: After Design Life - Interview With Prodromos Nikiforidis
Thessaloniki New Waterfront has set a new example on public space design and handling. This is a key point that differentiates the project and sets a new standard regarding further discourse on the subject.
Attending the 10th International Landscape Biennial
The 10th International Landscape Biennial organized by the Catalan Architect Association and the UPC University was recently held in Barcelona, Spain. A diverse group of landscape professionals, both practitioners and academics, gathered in the COAC and the Palau de la Música Catalana to discuss about “Performative Nature”.
Thessaloniki New Waterfront Creates Spectacular Scenes
The three kilometers-long promenade starts from the White Tower of Thessaloniki, an emblematic city landmark, and reaches up to the New City Concert Hall. The intervention unfolds in two parallel zones along the water. Each line differentiates in terms of function, scale, and character.
5 Common Mistakes You Should Avoid When Starting a Project
You get to start your new project. Photos, plans, and all the relative data are here; you have already been on site – or maybe not. Nevertheless, you are about to think, conceive, make decisions, design. What could possibly go wrong? Well, almost everything if you do not pay attention to the following traps! There are certain mistakes you should definitely avoid at the beginning of a project, in order for things to run smoothly.
Zuidwestoever | How to Use Urban Furniture to Define a Space
There are many ways to intervene into the landscape. It can be modified, reconstructed, handled, or simply maintained. The latter is also an intervention. Zuidwestoever design introduces all of the above in a single design gesture to create a new place for the citizens of Amsterdam where they can walk, sit, organize events or simply be next to the water.
Fuji Kindergarten | An Exploration of Space and Learning for Children
Design is about hosting human life and activity. There are, however, projects that go beyond that, to actually shape human life and activity. Fuji Kindergarten is one of those projects. Given its educational purpose, it would be right to say that it shapes character and personality, as well. Tezuka architects have created a shell that embodies an innovative learning philosophy, culture, playing, joy, and contact with nature, all in one.
Blocs 77 | How to Create a Landscape Design without a Landscape
Sometimes the given limitations of a project are hard to cope with. In the case of Blocs 77 Condominium project, that meant 5,244 square meters, 467 residential units, compulsory construction of a six-meter-wide fire engine route, parking lots on the ground level, a high-rise building, and the city of Bangkok, Thailand.
How Naturescape Merged the Outside and Inside World
How could a landscape be developed indoors? How can Japanese garden principles apply in contemporary design space? Can one enclose natural elements in a room? Naturescape was been commissioned to KENGO KUMA AND ASSOCIATES for the 2013 Salone del Mobile, in Milan. It functions as a showroom, but not like any other you have seen. The space goes beyond the typical display of objects providing an almost transcendent experience on landscape, architecture, and design.
Tram Square Purmerend Shows us What it Means to Design with Integrity
The Square has been designed by the Amsterdam-based office, NEXT Architects. Purmerend is a town in the North of Holland. It is surrounded by polders, the characteristic entities of Dutch landscape indicating reclaimed land surfaces. Therefore water has always been present as a limit/defining element of the landscape. This condition has also affected the Tram Square design.
Chicago Riverwalk Expansion: From Unused Space to a Public Hotspot
The idea is very simple and brilliant, like all great ideas. Reclaim the space along the water edge and connect the city to the river. A task that is easy to envision, but hard realizing. However, as Gina Ford, lead designer in Sasaki Architects puts it: “If you can imagine it, you can build it” and so they did!
10 Amazing Plants to Plant Indoors
Planting design is a composition with an aesthetic, an ecological, and a practical aspect. In order to satisfy all three conditions, a designer should be able to acknowledge the compatibility of species and plan accordingly. This article presents 10 plants suitable to plant indoors.
5 Ways to Integrate Planting with Interior Design
There is an increasing tendency in architecture to connect and integrate vegetative elements into designs. Green roofs and vegetated areas around built volumes become important ingredients in the creative process. The environmental benefits of this approach are great in terms of energy consumption, noise filtration, and air purification. Real estate assessment is also affected. The “greener” the approach, the higher the sales or rental prices are. Allowing vegetation to thrive indoors is an emerging expression of this tendency.
10 Great Plants for Interior Planting
How to Let Nature In; 10 Amazing Suggestions of plants for interior planting for lush, vegetated, indoor spaces. Do plants grow indoors? Definitely Yes! Do all plants grow indoors? Definitely No! If you aspire to create an amazing indoor garden or simply have a pot on your desk, choosing the right plant is of vital importance.
8 Common Mistakes in Interior Planting
What should one – professional or not – bear in mind in order to have a vigorous and beautifully vegetated space indoors? In this article, we discuss what to avoid when planting indoors, and thus provide a guide on what to do to succeed in such a scheme. The following mistakes when planting indoors concern both the phase of construction as well as further handling and maintenance.
