The Red Ribbon Park, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, China, designed by Turenscape At the beginning of the 21^st century, the eastern area of Qinhuangdao city, along the Tanghe River, was engulfed by an intensive urban expansion, being quickly surrounded by new developments. Despite its difficult access and unhealthy conditions, the river area was one of the few options for outdoor leisure for residents of nearby communities. The place was an important green area, since it maintained the vegetation supporting wildlife habitats, but there wasn’t any effective structure for the people who came to swim or fish. The landscape featured native plants and animals sharing the space with a garbage dump, challenging the professionals to create a solution to meet residents’ needs while revitalizing the long-neglected riverbanks on the outskirts of the city.

Among the ideas was a proposal to pave the area with concrete and construct flower beds, which probably would have transformed the riverbanks into more functional spaces, but that would not have favored the city’s integration with nature.

An Ecological Solution Preserving the Natural Landscape and Culture

A proposal in a contrary direction prevailed, developed by a firm whose own name emphasizes its philosophy of uniting humans and the land: Turenscape – a mix of two Chinese words, Tu (land) and Ren (people), with the English word scape — aims to create harmony between land and people.

The Negative Approach   According to the designer Kongjian Yu, in an interview with ASLA, the project was based on his idea of “negative approach” with the goal of preparing an ecological infrastructure that could work as the basis for other kinds of planning. His idea is the reverse of conventional urban planning, which generally addresses  population growth and is more focused on a city’s economic development. Related Articles:

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Stormwater management systems, biodiversity, and green corridors Kongjian Yu’s design changed the focus to the landscape, to make it lead the urban planning process by providing a green infrastructure to integrate stormwater management systems, biodiversity, and green corridors. This structure provides ecological services for the residents, such as recreation, sports, environmental education, and clean air and water, all through an effective use of the available resources in the city. The Importance of Identifying with a Space Another important aspect of preserving the natural landscape is that it also maintains the cultural heritage, enabling residents to identify with the place. And to create an even more inclusive atmosphere, the Turenscape team included a component that provided the additional functions people were expecting from the urban park. The Red Ribbon Seating, lighting, and walkway came together in one solution — the Red Ribbon, a 500-meter-long curvilinear bench, built in fiberglass and steel to be the structural and organizational element of the 20-hectare park, making it a reference of contemporary landscape architecture. The Red Ribbon guides the visitors through their discovery of the natural biodiversity and the added gardens with its vibrant red color and snaking shape, compounding a metaphor of the vital energy — the mythological  “breath of the dragon” — which, according to Chinese tradition, maintains the space as alive and successful. Technology helps to achieve a better performance The red of the bench makes a bold contrast with the green of the surrounding vegetation, and a dramatic effect is created at night when the ribbon is lit from within. This energetic waving form makes a reference to fire, which, along with steel, gives the landscape a modern interpretation of the millenary Chinese knowledge of the harmony resulting from the cycle of creation and destruction of the five natural elements. While the site already featured water, earth, and wood, the red ribbon suggests — through its material and color — metal and fire, integrating its symbolic characteristics with its functional and aesthetic roles. The Red Ribbon and Attention to Detail The chosen material gives lightness to the ribbon, minimizing its interference on the site and blending it with the plants and animal paths. Perforations on its top side allow plants to grow through the ribbon; some crossings for small animals were built. The material enables the ribbon to work as a fluid volume from which it is possible to observe the existing vegetation and the four added gardens, composed of white, yellow, purple, and blue flowers. Fiberglass and steel also brought modern technology to the park, complemented by the four adjacent pavilions featuring curved forms that suggest clouds, creating the sensation that the shelters come naturally from the sky. The Benefits of the Sustainable Design The concept of complementing the natural landscape with the lowest intervention was the key point to achieve the goal of preservation. The architecture element just took a slight portion of the land, by adjusting itself into the curves of the riverbanks to provide the functions users were expecting. Neither its minimalism nor its curvilinear shape derived from preferences for one style or form, but resulted from the architecture program and the site’s characteristics. The design created a synthesis of several roles and took the opportunity offered by the site to recreate the landscape and emphasize its features. Below: Enjoy all the incredible pictures of The Red Ribbon Park courtesy of Turenscape The Red Ribbon Park has been demonstrating, since its implementation in 2008, the benefits of designing with nature and introducing minimal artificial elements. It is a sustainable landscape, built upon the concepts of simplicity and harmony, so, instead of drawing a line between the city and nature, it composed a hybrid environment, providing the advantages of both the urban and natural spaces and enabling the efficient use of its resources. Furthermore, the design conciliated the characteristics of the contemporary spaces with the local traditions, satisfying the residents and being internationally recognized as a wonderful river park. Recommended Reading:

• Urban Design by Alex Krieger
• Digital Drawing for Landscape Architecture by Bradley Cantrell

Article by Tania Gianone Return to Homepage

A useful AutoCAD tutorial to help you with topography lines in AutoCAD. Computer aided design (CAD) software doesn’t come up with great concepts, as pointed out well by Barry Lupton. However in pretty much every project you reach a point where you want to digitalise sketches. Amongst others AutoCAD is probably the most used CAD program in landscape architecture and many other professions. As it is an extremely extensive program, only a few use it to it’s full potential. Even though you create drawings with it, it’s nothing like a box of pencils from which you pick the color you want just by looking at the box. You need to find your way. And it doesn’t stop there. AutoCAD can be customized and extended in virtually endless ways. So some pointers may come in handy! Lisa Tierney showed us 10 basic AutoCAD hacks, a useful overview for the absolute beginner. This article is the first of hopefully many about AutoCAD functionalities that, even when you are a pro, you may never have realized were possible. This first post from UrbanLISP is about topography in plan drawings.

Topography in your Plan Drawing in AutoCAD

Sections are very useful to show topography and slopes. Plan drawings still are the most important images you will produce during a project. Of course the topography should be shown in that plan drawing. In many countries it’s common to draw slope lines. It’s a pattern of lines that go from the top of the slope to the bottom. Every second line ends one half of that distance. Drawing such a pattern in AutoCAD on straight lines is not too much work. When the slopes in your plan are curvy the challenge is a bit bigger. The UrbanLISP ‘Slopelines’ command helps you to place such a pattern in an instant. Related Articles:

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You only have to select two linear entities. Polylines, lines, arcs and splines are examples of linear entities. You have to select one for the top and one for the bottom and the pattern will be drawn in between. You can tweak the settings of the command to get an optimal result depending on the curves you use and the units your drawing is set to.

If you work in more mountainous areas you may work with topography lines. You can overlay them over your plan but that may be a bit boring. With the ‘Object Color Transition’ command you can create a gradient from the top to the bottom. You only have to prepare two colors, select them when starting the command and select the topography lines you want to apply them to. Most AutoCAD users are visually orientated. In the included video you can see a short demonstration of the commands described above. If you want to find out more about the command’s functionalities you can go to the UrbanLISP app store. The ‘Slopelines’ and ‘Object Color Transition’ commands can be found there along with videos with more in depth tutorials. Social Download Stamp As long as they are marked with the ‘social download’ stamp you can download them after you tweeted the command page or liked it on Facebook, so you can try them for free. If you want to know how to install them you can check the installation guide. Feel free to share your feedback either in the UrbanLISP app store on below this article. Enjoy! WATCH: Ways to show topography in your plan drawing in AutoCAD Recommended Reading:

• Digital Drawing for Landscape Architecture by Bradley Cantrell
• Detail in Contemporary Landscape Architecture by Virginia McLeod

Article and video tutorial by Rob Koningen You can see more of Rob’s work at UrbanLISP Return to Homepage

The New Tel Aviv Port, by Mayslits Kassif Architects, Tel Aviv, Israel. Reading the title of this article, you might already be wondering how Tel Aviv happened to get known for an urban redevelopment project? My reaction was similar, as was that of the 1,000-person audience at the issuing of the most prestigious award in Europe for landscape architecture — the Rosa Barbara European Landscape Prize in 2010. People were telling the architects of the port transformation: “We didn’t know that there are things like that in Tel Aviv.”

Tel Aviv Port

The project won out of more than 420 entrants, being selected both by the official jury and the audience. It was the first time Israel has been awarded a prize for landscape architecture, putting it on the global scene for remarkable projects.

There is certainly a lot to learn from this extremely successful urban and landscape transformation for the city of Tel Aviv. But let’s look at why the project is so important and how can an abandoned part of the city turn into the most popular and highly evaluated public space?

The Opening of Tel Aviv Port

The port first opened in 1936, but was used at its full operational capacity for only three years. Attempts over the years to revive the port were unsuccessful, and although it was functioning partially until 1965, it had been lying abandoned and disintegrating ever since. In 2002, the port management saw its potential and ran a competition for the revival of the port areas and their transformation into a vital public space.

A Connection Between City and Waterfront To win the competition, Mayslits Kaasiv architects seized the opportunity to recreate this link between the city and its waterfront that had been neglected for more than 50 years. A Space of Great Potential The area had fantastic potential, being located right by one of the best seasides in Tel Aviv. Stretching from north to south toward the popular beach of Tel Baruch and further south, it provided an ideal link from one end of the city to the other.

Tel Aviv Port Inspired by Sand Dunes

The architects’ desire to create an inviting public space became the base of the project. They came up with a design inspired by the sand dunes on which the former port was built, creating a vast open space covered by an undulating wooden deck reminiscent of those dunes.

What does it cost to build the best design in Europe? The project took five years and $5 million to be finally completed in 2008. It involved not only the public space design, but also the transformation of the old port hangars, transforming the surrounding area into an attractive location for bars, restaurants, and shops.

Tel Aviv Port, the Place to be

The reopening of the port started attracting the public even before the landscape works were completed. The wooden deck’s fulfilled its purpose of inviting diverse uses by various groups of people, making the port the place to be in Tel Aviv.

People enjoy the simplicity of the space, the comfort of sitting on the ground or by some of the quirky fake rocks, taking a walk, running, taking their wedding photos or doing their yoga class, having sports tournaments, or just chilling and feeling the breeze Lighting at the Port The popularity of the area in the evening is due to an indispensable element that has been responsible for much of the success of such a large-scale project – lighting. It was completely embraced in the design and execution of the project, providing a secure and enjoyable public space during the dark part of the day. Related Articles:

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The complete success of the port revamp in social and urban terms has become an inspiration and drive for other similar public space projects along the shore of Tel Aviv, aiming at the extension of the link between the city and the sea. No project is perfect and Tel Aviv port is no exception The project has had a few criticisms since its completion. Even though the complete coverage of wood looks absolutely stunning, its proximity to water can make it wet and slippery, causing regular accidents and the need to change the surface in some places to prevent slips and falls. Sand being in the center of the concept, no vegetation was involved in the design. I was long convinced that landscape design is about vegetation, especially important to create shadow in the hot summers, but this is proof that it can be substituted with other materials and landscape elements that serve as a transferring platform between the urban and the natural environment. WATCH: A beautiful time lapse of Tel Aviv Port Despite those comments, a project with such a tremendous influence on the city’s life and development can’t be judged for its rather unimportant and correctable downsides. The former port has become a kind of city terrace with a sea view accessible to all. Who wouldn’t like to use it? Once a place that went forgotten for half a decade, the port redevelopment project brought the people and the life of Tel Aviv back to its mesmerizing seaside and changed the face of the whole city by doing so. It is a remarkable example of how we can transform our cities and the way we live in them through landscape architecture. Are there such forgotten places in your city? Maybe that’s your chance to make a change! All photographs featured in this article are by: Guy Cohen Photography and Mario Troiani Article by Yuliya Georgieva Return to Homepage

The Forest and Pool at Pyne, by TROP Terrains + Open Space, Bangkok, Thailand Some projects are simply impossible to forget, blurring the lines between art and design and mixing old with new. Unique in their design and conception, they create a lasting impression. The Forest and Pool at Pyne in Bangkok was commissioned in 2010 as part of a high-end condominium building by Thai real-estate developer Sansiri. The selected designer, TROP Terrains + Open Space, is an award-winning firm that previously received global attention for its design of The Garden of Hilton Pattaya and is among our Top Ten Names in Landscape Architecture.

Whimsical and almost dreamscape-like, TROP’s design for the Forest and Pool at Pyne can perhaps best be described as enchanted forest meets Zen garden design. It mixes clean lines, simplicity, and contrast with whimsical elements. The feeling of the space is the perfect balance — serene and calming, yet playful. Pyne: The Condos That Sold Out in One Day Pyne is a luxury high-rise condominium building in a busy and densely populated downtown district. The location is ideal: The building is in the epicenter of a highly in-demand neighborhood, close to shopping centers, restaurants, nightlife, and, most importantly, directly in front of a BTS skytrain station, Bangkok’s elevated rapid transit. As the city has become infamous for congested streets and never-ending traffic, more locals are turning to public transport. Today, proximity to transit has become the single most important factor in Bangkok’s real-estate market. Largely because of its prime location, Pyne sold all of its available units within the first day. Today, these units are being resold at an average of ฿ 223 806 per square metre ($6817 USD), and rising. A Nightmare for Designers The location of this site created a unique challenge. Bangkok is a dense, urban city, and the related issues of air, noise, and light pollution needed to be addressed by the design. Population density in this neighborhood is extremely high, even for Bangkok. The site is completely boxed in by massive, outdated concrete buildings, and designers had to prevent the space from becoming claustrophobic. Noise and light were also a major concern. The busy downtown district is plagued with constant traffic and is the home of many major nightclubs. The Forest at Pyne At just over 30,000 square feet, “The Forest” area is located in the space between the condominium building entrance and the skytrain station. Many people in Bangkok have no access to green space, and the designers wanted this space to feel like a refuge from the city: a forest escape for residents. A 3-meter-high wall separates the space from the street. This wall looks ordinary from the outside, but also functions as a planter on the inside, creating a green curtain between the site and the city. Rolling hills of turf create an illusion of more green space, while also softening the geometric shapes of the surrounding city and reducing the sense of claustrophobia. Incredibly, the site includes 10-meter-tall trees, which help to create the feeling of a forest and establish a connection to nature. The geometric sculptures — silver deer — look like something from a contemporary art museum, adding a sense of whimsy and enchantment to the space. Related Articles:

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Clean lines and geometric and organic shapes work together in perfect harmony. The contrast of materials creates an impression of appearing to be a work of art when viewed from above. The Pool at Pyne Along with the forest garden area, TROP was also commissioned to design the building’s swimming pool. The location and size was standard, exactly the same as the hundreds of other high-rise condominium buildings in the city. So a simple, standard pool design would have been the obvious answer. However, TROP wanted to create something unique. TROP’s design integrates the pool with various deck and garden terraces that create a modern oasis. An overhead structure called the “skeleton” emits a soft glow at night, lighting the space. Combined with the terrace design, these differences in height, rather than just a flat pool of water with a flat deck, create visual interest. From above, the structure breaks up the space and creates a unique impression.

A Refreshingly Unique Approach of Zen Garden Design Meeting Enchanting Forest Refuge

TROP continues to set an example to landscape architecture firms — cities don’t have to be boring. In a busy, urban environment, residents need an escape, but TROP’s forest and pool goes beyond this. It offers refuge in a city severely lacking in green space, while also creating a unique space that mixes art and design and effectively reflects the sense of luxury that is key to the identity of Pyne.

In a city like Bangkok, where cookie-cutter solutions are frequently applied to design problems, TROP has once again managed to create something entirely unique, distinguishing itself from everyone else in the field. All photos by Wison Tungthunya and Tinnaphop Chawatin. Recommended reading: 

• The Garden Source: Inspirational Design Ideas for Gardens and Landscapes by Andrea Jones
• Private Paradise: Contemporary American Gardens by Charlotte M. Frieze

Article  by Michelle Biggs Return to Homepage

Promenade Plantee, Jacques Vergely and Philippe Mathieu, Paris, France. Can you commute to your city and enjoy the experience like a tourist would? This isn’t the case in every city, but Parisiennes can get a glimpse of what visitors might see – and not just because of the fabulous monuments Paris obviously has to offer. In East Paris, in the XXI arrondissement, an abandoned, old-fashioned brick viaduct is the starting point for an inspired requalification that has created a significant change for the city, its citizens, tourists, and for landscape architecture at large. The Promenade Plantée, also known as Coulée Vert, is the inspiration for New York City’s famous High Line Park.

An Historical Setting The viaduct was built in 1859, dismissed in 1969, and eventually restored in 1988 thanks to the master plan of landscape architect Jacques Vergely and architect Philippe Mathieu. Their Promenade Plantée is a 4.6-kilometer parkway that links Place de La Bastille with Bois de Vincennes.

An Urban Revitalisation

The linear park follows the railway path: The first segment is elevated upon the Viaduct des Arts and the second is under the street grade, comprising the Promenade Verte. It crosses 20 city blocks, slices through two buildings, opens into new gardens, creates access to the city with green stairs and bridges, and restores and revitalizes an area that was one of the poorest in the city because of the decaying railway and the related hidden danger inside.

It is interesting to see what has happened downstairs, below the Viaduct, in the first segment of the Promenade: All the vaults have been restored and transformed into art shops, giving a really strong personality and sophisticated value to the large pedestrian area along the main street. Indeed, following the willingness of the municipality, all of the shop windows speak the same architectural language of wood, metal, and glass, giving unity and harmony to the whole street. WATCH: A picture show of Promenade Plantée The second segment of the Promenade is accessed by a descending bridge that spreads into a large lawn. From here, the path runs below street level and has a more spontaneous impact. It expands in several places, with small gardens giving the sensation of being deep in a natural area, emphasized by the lack of architectural language in favor of lush wild climbers, unpruned trees, ground cover plants and a tunnel in a grotto, with stones and flushing water. A Driving Force for Change Working as a neighborhood connector, the Promenade Plantée is also the driving force behind improvements in the areas it crosses: About 80 decaying buildings have been restored and new contemporary ones built. Indeed, you can walk through the city from the viaduct’s heights and choose one of numerous exits that bring you down into the depths of the city or into four new gardens that have sprung up off the Promenade. Walking on the viaduct from Place de La Bastille to Bois de Vincennes, we find Jardin Hector-Malot (two terraced gardens with regular architecture and vegetation), reach the street level by a curved wooden bridge into the Jardin de Reuilly (the bigger garden that enlarges the Promenade into a lawn bowl surrounded by thematic gardens, fountains, and pools). Choose a pedestrian or cycling and skating path from the Jardin de la Gare de Reuilly (the less formal garden, seven meters below the traffic plan, with a very large number of different trees and a former rail tunnel converted into a wet, dark, and mossy cave that gives the sensation of being in wild nature), and before the end of the path meet the new Jardin Charles Péguy (the last formal part of the Promenade, with tank pools and waterfalls and planted with oaks and conifers). Related Articles:

• The Flying Parks- From The Highline in New York to The Promenade Plantée in Paris!
• 10 Incredible Projects For Students To Know About And Why!
• The World Without Landscape Architects!

A Corridor of Biodiversity The changes made by the restoration of the old infrastructure is impressive, creating a natural corridor planted with thousands of trees, ornamental shrubs, trellised arcades with climbers, a bamboo forest, flowers, and fountains inhabited by butterflies and birds. The Promenade offers a different experience of the urban landscape, with the sensation of being far away from the din and pollution of the surrounding city. The Promenade Plantée offers commuters and tourists a different kind of vacation from the most visited city in the world, one in which visitors can see Paris from another point of view, giving back a different kind of dignity and life to an urban landscape once avoided by tourists and its own citizens. Recommended Reading:

• High Line: The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky by Joshua David
• Joel Sternfeld: Walking the High Line by Joel Sternfeld

Article by Valentina Ferrari Return to Homepage

Smart Highway by Studio Roosegaarde. Energy efficiency and sustainability are some words that we use in almost every sector of our life now-a-days. Our planet has become vulnerable and her residents are already started to take care of her. We are conscious, yes, but are we smart enough? This is the very question the concept of “Smart Highway” brings before us. Smart highway is an innovative concept that targets the time yet to come. It is a result of the “brain” of Daan Roosegaarde, the designer and the “hands” of Heijmans, the builder and developer. We need collaboration between different fields to find the solutions of problems and difficulties of the contemporary world. Smart highway is a groundbreaking example for this kind of inter-expertise collaboration and effort.

The Smart Highway to Success

Ever thought of a highway with literally no road lights, to be safe? Or road lights that only lit when you are passing? What about an interactive highway that will talk to you about the weather condition? Or a one that will charge your vehicle while driving? – maybe you haven’t, but good news is, those “smart” people already have. So, want to take a quick drive on the “Smart highway” where art and technology goes hand to hand? Let’s go! The concept of smart highway The idea of a more intelligent way of transportation is not new. But the effort was primarily focused on vehicle development. The designer Daan Roosegaarde says, “When we look at highways, why is so much money and time and energy spent on cars? But the actual roads themselves are still stuck in the middle ages.” Sounds like that little word “why” gave birth to the innovative and the most beautiful concept of the future highways.

When people are doing something for a significant period of time, they can’t look back and think of a new way of doing that themselves. It takes a dreamer’s mind to come up with a new concept and tickle people, to set them free. In Roosegaarde’s word, “How can we make truly interactive and sustainable environment which connects people again, for me that is the essence of design.” Studio Roosegaarde’s partnership with Heijmans makes the dream’s way to reality. Why is it called “Smart”? Smartness can be referred as the ability to cope with the situation faced with intelligence and making the best out of it. For the new innovation of Roosegaarde it is similar. The smart highway is not just a lifeless road but it’s sensitive and intelligent. How the highways are anticipated to be intelligent, interactive and sustainable can be understood from the features they offer. WATCH: Accenture Innovation Awards 2013 – Smart Highway The glowing lines: Going through a fairy tale When in the dark the highway is lined with some light emitting lines; glowing lines, what the experience can be called rather than “Going through a fairy tale”? That is what Daan Roosegaarde calls it. The lines are made of photo luminescent paint which can absorb energy during the day and illuminates at the dark up to 10 hours. With this glowing lines any extra lighting for the highways are unnecessary. This will give the experiences of light and information. WATCH:  First Glowing Lines Smart Highway by Daan Roosegaarde Dynamic paint: A weather forecast “Why don’t we have information on the road only when we need it?” Here comes the designer’s “why?” again. In US, nearly 7400 people are killed in crashes and over 673,000 people are injured each year. 24 percent of these crashes are weather related. How many of us never experienced the danger of slippery road for not knowing the road’s condition before head? Well, the smart highway will alert you if the road deck is slippery. Studio Roosegaarde developed thermal sensitive paints that pop up when it’s cold and disappear again when the sun comes. So some beautiful and illuminating snowflakes will be there to notify the drivers that the road can be slippery and dangerous. Electric priority lane It’s quite normal that driving cars burn fuel or energy. But how about gaining energy to go some extra mileage by driving? Sounds impossible, right? But when the highway is smart, it’s not. To make it possible an electric priority lane is included. It uses induction coils under the tarmac that will automatically recharge the electric cars as they drive on it. Related Articles:

• Fabulous Bicycle Path Inspired by Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”
• Pavegen: Using the Pavement to Generate Energy
• Incredible Glow in the Dark Pathways

Interactive lights It is an innovative way of eliminating road lights that are always on and thus causing more energy and money. Statistics show that public streets and highway lighting, including commercial and institutional buildings, consumed about 274 billion kWh in US. These interactive lights are sensor controlled and will only lit when the traffic approaches. By following the coming and going off the lights drivers can know how fast they can drive too. Wind lights These fixtures can generate energy to light up from the air flow caused by the passing cars. The small wind mills with lamps at the center connect to small simple sensors. Wind lights are another option to cut the energy consumption by the conventional road lights. These will give a sense of interactive travelling. Merging the roads of imagination and innovation Roosegaarde aims to merge dream and reality. Creating interactive and sustainable designs like “Smart Highway”. Making a more innovative landscape possible as everything happens there. The team has launched two of their projects- Van Gogh Roosegaarde bicycle path and The Glowing Lines. The studio confirms that they are going to launch new projects at the end of 2014 and also next year where the other concepts of Smart Highway will be implemented. Until that they will keep upgrading and developing them further. WATCH: Van Gogh Roosegaarde bicycle path in Eindhoven So, “Going through a fairy tale”? Or “Cool Matrix like roads”? We can call it whatever amuses us. But the Smart Highway is here to give the new world an opportunity. It’s not just about new technologies and new designs. It’s about creating new mental maps to pushing people to think about the future. It’s about the life style, how people experience the design. WATCH: Before you go, Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has a few words for us Recommended Reading:

• Urban Planning For Dummies by Jordan Yin
• Becoming an Urban Planner: A Guide to Careers in Planning and Urban Design by Michael Bayer

Article by Auditi Bridget Biswas Return to Homepage

Starry Bicycle Path, Studio Roosegaarde, Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The city of Eindhoven, in the south of the Netherlands, is the hometown of Vincent Van Gogh, one of the most well known Dutch painters. The opening of a solar bicycle path inspired by Van Gogh’s most recognizable painting, “Starry Night,” this November marked the beginning of an international year celebrating his work and legacy, with activities spanning three countries: the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. Daan Roosegaarde, a Dutch designer who explores the relation among people, technology, and space and the author of the Lotus Dome project, has created this magnificent, glowing cycle path. This one-kilometer path is Roosegaarde’s second achievement in the Smart Highway project, through which he aims to build energy-smart, interactive, and memorable highways.

By day, the Van Gogh-Roosegaarde cycle path looks just like an ordinary bike lane. But at night, the 50,000 glow-in-the-dark stones embedded in the ground light the way for cyclists.

Glow in the Dark Bicycle Path

Van Gogh year 2015 “125 years of inspiration” marks the 125th anniversary of the death of Van Gogh (1853-1890). To pay tribute to Van Gogh’s legacy, Roosegaarde wanted to create something incredibly poetic, a place that people will experience in a special way. The cycle path is located in Eindhoven, where Van Gogh was born and raised. He often used Eindhoven as a backdrop for his paintings.

The new cycle path creates a link between two watermills, Opwettense and Colse, featured in Van Gogh’s paintings, and is part of the Van Gogh cycle route that connects Brabant and Nuenen (the place of Van Gogh’s family home and the place where he created his first masterpiece — “The Potato Eaters”). The whole Van Gogh cycle route measures 335 kilometers (over 208 miles) and is split into five segments, each one suitable for a one-day cycle ride. A Good Project Generates New Stories The path aims to make bike commuting safer and more pleasant. The 50,000 stones coated in a phosphorescent paint and solar-powered LEDs embedded in the ground imitate the starry twists of the legendary painting. This artwork, a game involving light, poetry, and engineering, provides a reinterpretation of “Starry Night”. The special paint uses energy gathered during the day to glow after dark. The lighting installation incorporates a solar system that collects and stores energy used for lighting the path if the weather is too cloudy for the panel to be charged. A Landscape Project for Tourists and Residents The €700,000 project was financed by the Eindhoven community and partners, and will be open to the public year-round for free. Innovation and cultural heritage are the basis of this new kind of landscape, which also helps the economy of Eindhoven: Tourists come to experience the path in the evening, and then will stay in the city longer, spending more money. Related Articles:

• World’s tiniest recessed LED luminaire – 1PUCK LP by MINIMIS
• Pavegen: Using the Pavement to Generate Energy
• Incredible Glow in the Dark Pathways

This innovative bicycle path is a cultural and recreational project based on the light-emitting diode techniques developed by Heijmans and Studio Roosegaarde for the highway of tomorrow. This kind of bicycle path transforms cycling into a memorable experience in an eco-friendly way. The Van Gogh-Roosegaarde cycle path is a joint initiative of Routebureau Brabant, VisitBrabant, Van Gogh Brabant, the Province of Noord-Brabant, and the Community of Eindhoven. WATCH: Starry Bicycle Path, Studio Roosegaarde A New Approach to Energy and Infrastructure Roosegaarde hopes the Van Gogh cycle path will be more than just a beautiful and breathtaking project; his new vision is about using clean energy and improving bicycle commuting. For this purpose, Roosegaarde has two goals: The first is to create reactive painting systems for signaling and alerting road users in case of unfavorable conditions; the second is to create clean-energy paths that are as beautiful as they are energy-efficient. As Roosegaarde himself declared for DeZeen Magazine: “It’s a new total system that is self-sufficient and practical, and just incredibly poetic.” Recommended Reading:

• Urban Planning For Dummies by Jordan Yin
• Becoming an Urban Planner: A Guide to Careers in Planning and Urban Design by Michael Bayer

Article by Diana Ispas Return to Homepage

The Pool, By Nippaysage, Emile Gamelin Plaza, Montreal, Canada Illusion and whimsy combine to create a cool, blue oasis in Montreal’s Emilie Gamelin Plaza in the center of the city. Architect Nippaysage has used paint and geometric designs to give a rectangular slab of hardscape the optical shimmering feel of a real swimming pool. Draw closer, and you will see that the pool is a place to play: Hopscotch grids, chessboards and giant tangram puzzle pieces invite users to take a break from their busy urban lives.

The Draw of Water in the Landscape Humans and water are inextricably linked. In the landscape wherever you find water you will find human settlement. In designed landscapes users are similarly drawn to water. In their design for Emilie Gamelin Plaza, Nippaysage has used the blue painted surface of the hardscape to conceptually represent water, evoking many of the same psychological responses of cooling and exciting that are associated with real water. How to Conceptually Represent Water Nippaysage’s design is filled with paintings and furniture that suspend disbelief and give the illusion that a real pool has been nestled into the plaza. A diving board bench extends over the edge of the blue painted surface, evoking a sense of summer fun. The conceptual pool design is further reinforced by painted ridges and grooves mimicking waves and splashes of water. At the human scale, the macro scale water theme is juxtaposed by a prescribed program of games. The whimsical touch of oversized chess pieces and hopscotch courts only adds to the fun, even though they wouldn’t normally be found in the water.

The Dry Pool Design that Recreates the Fun of Being at the Pool

These installations within the pool design provide everyday fun, but also attract interest during festivals and special events held in the plaza, including the summer park program organized by Le partenariat du Quartier des Spectacles, the project’s client. The primary concept of the pool design was to create the illusion of an actual swimming pool, which has been achieved by varying the tints of blue to trick the human retina into seeing the shimmers it would expect to see in a real pool. The cerulean colors were chosen not only for the purpose of depicting a pool, but also because the color blue is often conceptually associated with depth and stability, symbolizing trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and communication. The last of which is the most important, because the pool design is intended to bring people together in a place where they can interact and have fun.

Related Articles:

• Rooftop Infinity Pool with Awesome Views
• Sky Pool Takes World Class Design to the Next Level
• Swimming Pool Design with the Wow Factor

Would you like to play chess with the Kings and the Queens or play tangram with squares and triangles? Here in Emilie Gamelin, you can do both. The pool welcomes you with its playful furniture and the sense that you are surrounded by cool, blue water on a hot summer day.

Recommended reading: 

• Urban Design by Alex Krieger
• Digital Drawing for Landscape Architecture by Bradley Cantrell

Article by Sha Sulaiman Return to Homepage

Akasya Acibadem Central Park, by SdARCH Trivelli & Associati & Alhadeff Architects, Istanbul, Turkey. As Istanbul is considered by many to be one of the best capitals of art and culture, parks in the city are just as spectacular and in the following project lies the evidence: Akasya Acibadem Central Park located in Acibadem district. An area of high quality housing projects in the Asian side of Istanbul. In recent years, a new road network and new residential buildings came up. This Park appears to be the green center or the “green lung” of this new urbanization. The park surrounds the new shopping mall in Akasya, designed by DDG Architects. WATCH: Akasya Master Plan by DDG Architects The landscaping team, standing behind the “green lung”, is SdARCH Trivelli & Associati. They teamed up with Alhadeff Architects. Through their project they have managed to transform a former factory site into an outstanding scene. A dramatic change, calling for a peep behind the scenes of Akasya Acibadem Central Park.

New Urbanization Forming a United Whole

The designed landscape public space is situated in front of the main entrance of the mall. The 2.2-acre park enclosed by new shops and restaurants, a ring of roads and pedestrian paths making for a centralized location. Akasya Central Park unites the site. Providing circulation and a gradual transition between residential areas and the commercial center. The “united whole” achieved through the landscape design uses elliptical and oval shapes, reflecting the same rounded lines of the entire project.

Different Levels of Relationship with the Place After the connections within the park were designed, the green circles become green rooms. Those green rooms propose diverse activities, providing different levels of relationship with the place. The concept is that the designed space is where you can relax after shopping or share your free time with other visitors in a public space. The area around the pond for example predisposes to a private, intimate atmosphere. While the space around the fountains in front of the mall – to a more social and amusing background. The open-air theatre provides sitting on the ground and a place to enjoy the shows. The theatre also hosts concerts and many other cultural activities. The children provide the most entertainment and energy to the space. Small hills with slides and rubber hooks for climbing, keep them entertained. Mazes and boulders form a dynamic playground, a piece of heaven for kids. Mediterranean Aftertaste Virtual relationships with the park are finally achieved through vegetation. The most fundamental link between humans and nature. Open and shady spaces alternate with each other. You encounter the variety of trees, shrubs, herbs and graceful ornamental grasses. Vividness of colors in tree rows of the same species (olive trees, pines, oaks, birches, willows, etc.) outline the landscape creating circular rooms with different colors. The park provides a Mediterranean vegetation. Olea europaea, Pinus pinea, Pennisetum setaceum, Carex comans “Frosted Curls”, etc. – leaves behind a Mediterranean aftertaste of casual elegance within the park. There are 15 different species of trees for a total of 293 trees and 47 species of shrubs and flowers. Each providing texture, color and structure. Related Articles:

• Pocket Parks: Why size doesn’t matter
• The Flying Parks- From The Highline in New York to The Promenade Plantée in Paris!
• An Underground Park – The Lowline Park

The smell of herbs, the tickling sound of dancing water jets and warm-colored plants and textures carry you into the enchantment of Akasya Central Park. Taking possession of all your senses. Sustainable Approach A contemporary landscape design project without its sustainable approach could be quite unacceptable. SdARCH Trivelli&Associati, the authors of Akasya Central Park, believe that “The sustainable architecture is the space of equilibrium between the actual and future human needs. In this way we try to understand what of what it will be in the future of our design and our built and unbuilt architecture.” Energy efficiency within Akasya Acibadem Project is achieved through rainwater harvesting. As well as usage of grey waters. (recycled water, used for landscape irrigation) in pool and garden watering. The material used for pathways is Levostab 99. A paving natural stabilizer with many advantages. These include the improvement of physical and mechanical soil properties. A reduction of swelling caused by changes in water content and an increase in soil service life due to its durability. It’s soil-line properties surpass that of asphalt and concrete-based pavements. This makes the material the best sustainable solution. A sustainable united whole with diverse activities, having this Mediterranean appendage. People call it “the green lung” of new urbanization. Is “new urbanisation” just another buzz term or something we’re going to be hearing a lot more about? Recommended Reading:

• 1000 Details in Landscape Architecture: A Selection of the World’s Most Interesting Landscaping Elements by Francesc Mola
• Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns by John Massengale

Article by Velislava Valcheva Return to Homepage

Mekel Park, by Mecanoo in Delft, the Netherlands. The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), one of the most prestigious of its kind in the Netherlands, aimed in 2004 to transform the busy and broad Mekel Road, which splits the campus in half, into a spectacular park. The goal was to bring to the campus the high quality of life in the city of Delft. Located in the heart of the campus, the park bridges the buildings of all the faculties and, because of this, it symbolizes the university’s international and interdisciplinary character, bringing together in a pleasant way people with different cultural and academic backgrounds.

The Green Heart At 80 meters wide and 800 meters long, this park contributes to the university’s reputation and provides an attractive meeting point for students and teachers. The so-named “green heart” gained by the TU Delft campus is a planted corridor for pedestrians, cyclists, skaters, and public transport, crossed by an attentively composed network of paths. Mekel Park is part of a master plan for a 10-hectare campus park with faculty squares and the integration of a tram line. The design of this park is the result of an excellent collaboration among the Mecanoo architects, TU Delft, the municipality of Delft, and Metropolitan District Haagland. The main theme of this project is sustainability, provided by the four sub-themes of health, energy, environment, and mobility.

Road Transformed into a Spectacular Park

The Mekelweg (Mekel way), a broad and noisy road surrounded by vast parking lots that used to run through the middle of campus, has been transformed by this project into a lush park with colorful trees. The Mekel Park, covering 6.4 hectares, is bordered on one side by an esplanade called the Nieuwe Delft (The New Delft), which connects the pedestrian promenade, faculty buildings, and lounge areas.

The New Delft traces a link between the city and the campus, maintaining a symbolic connection with the existing Oude Delft (Old Delft), where the original university buildings stood 165 years ago. The name of Nieuwe Delft is the result of a competition in which university students and teachers provided suggestions. An Arterial Route Buses and trams transport students, teachers, and visitors to the three stops along the 832-meter promenade. The tram line number 19 turned the campus into a car-free zone, allowing pedestrians to enjoy the park in a quiet and calm environment. The park is a mix of promenades, rolling green lawns complemented by zigzag pathways, and vibrant bands of trees of various species. The park has a stone bench stretching for one kilometre that represents the meeting point for international students and staff of the TU Delft, where they can stroll, read, study, debate, eat, and have a coffee. The pavement, a mix of cleft granite, contributes to the unique and valorous character of the campus. Related Articles:

• Car Park Turns into Public Park!
• Private Estate Reveals State of The Art Underground Car Park
• The Dark Secrets Behind Sustainable Urban Design Revealed in Şışhane Park

The former car parking areas have been converted into green slopes, creating high differences that bring attention to interest points. Each faculty has its own entrance square in order to help students and teachers to orientate, walk, and meet. A network of shops, coffee shops, restaurants, and terraces is designed to enhance the experience of using TU Delft campus. TU Delft Library Learning Center, a place for study and research, is also placed in the campus. Through its inspiring spaces and stimulating activities, the library creates a link between education and research, as well as between students and staff. The design and realization of Mekel Park is an important stride in creating an iconic character for the TU Delft University Campus that highlights the purpose of a leading international academic institution. The Mekel Park project is both useful and symbolic, connecting places, but more importantly people. With the engineering designed by students of TU Delft, Mekel Park is not just an accomplished, beautiful landscape project, but also a permanent outdoor exhibition of applied engineering, a case study, and a good practice guide for cooperation, innovation, and implication. Recommended Reading:

• Landscape Architecture Now! by Philip Jodidio
• Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns by John Massengale

Article by Diana Ispas Return to Homepage

This week’s Sketchy Saturday top 10. Welcome to this week’s exciting edition of Sketchy Saturday. This week’s sketches may have been the toughest in our Sketchy Saturday history to judge the top 10. There is a fine line between what is excellent work and what is suitable for Sketchy Saturday. With Sketchy Saturday we always stretch the definition of the word sketch and display some questionable entries, but we’re always searching for a high raw element to the work and a direct relevance to landscape architecture. Enjoy this week’s Sketchy Saturday top 10! 10. by Luna Refaie , (Architect) , Jordan  

“Our earth is getting covered with buildings , Every small empty space is being built without consideration for the outdoor spaces. We became imprisoned in our houses, We started mentioning the parks, plazas and outdoor spaces as a memory in history. Our planet is crying for missing water features and the green color penetrating our cities and neighborhoods.” Utopia is the name which I would like to give for this sketch. This Utopia is located in The Middle east. – Material used : Watercolours on Fabriano Size A3.” 9. by Sahra Stolz, Master of Architecture, University of Melbourne , Melbourne, Australia “This was sketched in my A5 Moleskine in watercolour and fountain pen from the driver’s seat of my car on a warm afternoon. Minnie St, Brunswick is in the state of Victoria (Australia) where corner stores are known as milk bars. Not long after I made this sketch, this, the last milk bar in the neighbourhood, closed its doors forever, victim to to the hegemony of the chain supermarket.” 8. by Ronak Roshan Gilvaei, Architect B.A., Rasht, Iran “This video is included as part of my teaching of sketching with marker at Art & Culture’s House in Rasht , Iran. This style helps you to have a better presentation and show the wooden material. This style is called Marker and I have also used pen and color pencil in it.” 7. by Devin S. Kimmel, ASLA, Assoc. AIA, Principal at Kimmel Studio, llc “This sketch is of a proposed entry view to a new house and garden we are designing. The house is to be shingle style with a 3 car garage, greenhouse, pool house and pier house. The gardens will have formal and informal spaces, a swimming pool, vegetable garden, orchard, wetland re-vegetation, and general garden spaces. This view angle was chosen to show the relationship of the house, garage, and greenhouse to the fenced entry court garden. The drawing is ink on vellum.” 6. by Elina Richert, 3rd year student, Nürtingen, Germany “The reason and motivation was a nice trip to verbania in Italy with my landscape architecture class. We were in the great park by the villa toronto and I decide to draw the landscape around me. This is a landscape painting and I paint it with a lead pencil ( 2B , HB, 4B)”. 5. by Morozova Lada,  landscape architect from Moscow, Russia. “Usually I make small colorful pencil drawings to explain my ideas to the customers. It’s more obvious and you can explain how this place will be looking like.” 4. by Jacek Gonera, landscape architecture student at Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences (Poland) “The reason for making this work is that I’ve been asked to make drawings with colour inspired by photos from holidays in Greece. I’ve spent quite long time doing this but it brought me so much joy and let me get some more experience with using watercolour technique. Painting is made in colour. It is based on the photo I received. It is my own interpretation (impression) of what I’ve seen. Location of presented painting is Greece. Technique is aquarelle (watercolour) and black ink fine liner. Paper size is A4.” Related Articles:

• Freehand Drawing & Discovery by James Richards | Book Review
• How to Suck at Hand Drawings and Still be a Good Landscape Architect
• Interested But Not Confident? – Know How to be Good at Hand Drawings

3. by Tino Beck, self-employed artist, Germany

“I took photos from a historic but badly damaged building – formerly a well known resting place within a lovely forest. On my inkjet I printed them in sepia and by adding a white-to-transparent shading. To introduce the intended reorganizations of the architect I completed the white half directly on the print (grained paper A3 landscape) by including the architects ideas as tender colored hand-painting, using available alignments.” 2. by Jerome K Benhur, 5th year student, Architecture, MEASI Academy of Architecture, Chennai, Tamil-Nadu, India “The Sketch is of Anna University Admin building (Chennai,Tamil-Nadu, India), a campus of 220 years of history. I have seen the campus lots of times before, but this time, I felt the campus grand. I understood what a properly designed landscape could do to a campus. I wanted to record my feeling in the form a sketch. This sketch is done using black pen ( stabilo point88 0.4 ).” 1. by Gustavo Garrido, Landscape Architect “This sketch done to illustrate a landscape project for a small park . Free hand sketch style. Located in the City of Santana de Parnaíba, close to São Paulo, Brazil. I used pen and color markers over sketch paper.” – That’s this week’s Sketchy Saturday Top 10, congratulations to all of you who featured, you have come out on top of a very talented bunch of people. Check out the Sketchy Saturday official Facebook album and see literally 1,000′s of incredible sketches! Follow all the winning entries on our dedicated Sketchy Saturday Pinterest page. If you want to take part send your entries into us at office@landarchs.com Recommended reading:

• Sketching from the Imagination: An Insight into Creative Drawing by 3DTotal
• Architectural Drawing Course by Mo Zell

Article written by Scott D. Renwick Return to Homepage