2_0_DiscoverGermany_August 2015_Issue29:Scan Magazine 1
27/7/15
16:47
Page 96
Pioneers of simple and modest elegance
Valentien & Valentien landscape architectural office’s goal is to keep things plain and simple to withstand ever-changing requirements. The family business, already in its second generation, follows a design philosophy which banks on innovation, clarity, unobtrusiveness, durability and aesthetics, while breaking up structures with a fundamental landscape architectural element: plants.
Covering a broad range of tasks from regional planning and urban development
96 | Issue 29 | August 2015
From disused airport to city oasis An exceptional example of Valentien & Valentien’s work is the exhibition city Riem
TEXT: NANE STEINHOFF
Founded more than 40 years ago, the small family business impresses with a familial but productive ambience. The team in Wessling, near Munich, works with a handful of employees collectively developing intelligent landscape architectural solutions that astound.“We focus on working multidisciplinary and that makes us stand out. Our overall goal is to create simple and plain designs which withstand changes. After all, landscape architecture needs to be usable for a long time,” Donata Valentien, one of the founders, explains.
transform traditional Chinese park elements in contemporary design,” Donata Valentien says.
to private gardens, Christoph and Donata Valentien’s focal point lies in the development of a city’s public spaces from revitalisation of historic town centres and the enhancement of residential estates of large-scale housing constructions, to the conceptualisation and the building of open spaces in new parts of town. In the last few years, the landscape architectural office has put special emphasis on projects in China, such as the Chenshan Botanical Garden in Shanghai (with Auer + Weber + Assoziierte) or the ‘Wasserplatz’ in the Central Business District in Wuxi (with Klaus Molenaar). “We constantly try to identify with the locations in China and to