Isar banks, Wittelsbacher bridge.
Creative responsibility Good landscape architecture for the team at BEM means transporting a sense of the unique. To them, each place is extraordinary in itself and it is a matter of looking at it closely to both understand its history and weave something new into it. Thus conserved and reformed, the space will shine in a new and unique way. TEXT: CORNELIA BRELOWSKI I PHOTOS: BEM
Founded in 1990 by Irene Burkhardt in Munich, the office has been co-led by Oliver Engelmayer since 2015, while Martin Mendel joined the duo in 2018. The trio plans, forms and creates largescale open areas that are often connected with history, as Oliver Engelmayer explains. Thus, most of their projects are in the public eye from the planning stage through to realisation. Ingolstadt university campus As part of the old foundry area redevelopment, a green, landscape-orientated campus was created, which included the existing tree population. Generous, slop98 | Issue 82 | January 2020
ing lawns offer much space for open-air recreation and reveal architectural findings. A mixture of beautiful greenery and pebble beds invite for outdoor learning and resting in the courtyards. Isar riverbank The BEM office has created a new quality of life for both the powerful river and its connected habitat as part of an 11-year restoration plan. It is now more accessible again by way of dynamic, flat pebble banks, allowing the river outline to adapt to the seasonal cycle and to support the typical habitat. The history of the Isar, as a wild river from the Alpine region, becomes visible once again.
Lenbach gardens A highly selective choice of greenery creates atmospheric designs which change their aspect throughout the year. Three inner courtyards offer private havens of peace and recreation. BEM has recently won the competition for a large-scale urban development in the north of Munich, including school and sports facilities. It is also keen to see many long-planned projects be built in 2020, always with an eye on the environmental changes influencing urban landscape design. As Oliver Engelmayer points out: “A lot of concepts which have been functioning seamlessly in the past need to be reevaluated to meet future challenges.” The trio at BEM are more than up to the task. www.bem-la.de