As a consequence of climatological, economic, and demographic processes, the contemporary European city is undergoing fundamental changes, ranging from structural modifications to negative growth and densification. These transformational processes provide us with opportunities to incorporate new green surfaces into European cities and to promote high-quality interventions and projects - whether at established locations or in newly developing urban districts. The work of Kamel Louafi and his office reshapes urban situations by means of landscaping design. This exhibition presents three of his office’s projects: a complex set in the historic center of Kassel, home of the documenta exhibition; the area around Opera Square in Hanover; and the Airport City East urban development zone in Bremen, with its adjoining Airbus Forecourt. Each complex is simultaneously cityscape and landscape, landscape art in an urban setting, contributor to urban identity and highpoint of garden culture. And each introduces the flexible, playful elements of vegetation and water into a hard, urban environment, enlivening and loosening it up. Traditional tools of the profession were used to make the settings more attractive and maximize functionality. As a consequence of their design continuity, these projects seem simultaneously new and familiar, and each highlights the multidimensional possibilities of open space design as well as its wider significance for urban development. Landscape design in the city is a cultural resource capable of strengthening the relationship between urban and landscape environments. By using natural elements (including plants of all kinds, water, and stone building materials), open urban spaces are created which satisfy both design criteria and ecological requirements. Kamel Louafi has achieved international recognition for the gardens at the EXPO 2000 World's Fair in Hanover. Besides numerous projects in Berlin (among them the Oriental Garden in the “Gardens of World” recreational park in Marzahn), Kamel Louafi has designed open spaces in the Orient, Abu Dhabi, Katar, and Saudi Arabia, as well as Rotterdam/the Netherlands.
Catalogue
An Aedes catalogue was published.
ISBN 978-3-937093-09-3
German/French/English
Price € 10,-
