Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Sustainable Development in Denmark
The Knudmose Lake at Herning with delicate curves and shapes. Photo: Barker & Bark
Shaping the landscape of gardens, cities and highways During more than two decades, the architectural landscape firm Vibeke Rønnow Landscape has designed various major prizewinning projects, such as Aalborg’s new waterfront as well as a string of private gardens. Vibeke Rønnow gains her inspiration from equally diverse sources, including her mother’s flower garden on Funen and Brasilia’s futuristic landscapes. By Signe Hansen | Photos: Vibeke Rønnow
Founded in Aarhus in 1987, extensive growth led Vibeke Rønnow Landscape to join C.F. Møller Architects in 2008. However, after five years as head of C.F. Møller’s landscape department, Vibeke Rønnow has decided to return to her own office to realise her ideas about landscaping her way. “For me it is very life-affirming to create surroundings which give people joy, make them go outside and
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meet each other – that’s what matters to me,” stresses Rønnow. Natural sustainability Environmental sustainability has, in recent years, become one of the hottest buzzwords in all fields from cookery to architecture. However, when talking about landscape architecture, the phrase is actually, explains Rønnow, rather superflu-
ous as it is an inherent part of designing gardens or urban spaces. “It is impossible to create a well-functioning environmentally sustainable outdoor space without including the social and economic dimensions, concepts that have not always been associated with landscaping in Denmark,” explains Rønnow. “In Brazil, even though it is a developing country, landscape has always been included when planning new cities like Brasilia, but in Denmark, for a long time, landscaping has been considered more of a luxury something you associated with manor houses - or it has been an appendix to other projects, a way of using excess materials and space; that’s why we’ve gained so much experience in financially sustainable solutions.”