The Animals’ Perspective or Who Is Our Customer?

The 24th series of lectures on architecture organized by Kruh is called Land/scape and it is dedicated to landscape architecture. The lecture in March, called The Animals’ Perspective or Who Is Our Customer?, will present DS Landscape Architects, a pair of landscape architects from the Netherlands who focus on biodiversity and work with water in the landscape. The lecture will be held by landscape architect Maike van Stiphout, the founder of the studio, and Fred Booy, landscape architect and expert on urban planting. In their projects, they consider not just the needs of humans, but also the animals and plants, and their designs thus support the diversity of species. In the lecture, they will show inclusive design tools on the examples of realizations in Rotterdam, Haag, and Amsterdam.

Maike van Stiphout is a practiced landscape architect with rich experience in architecture and the creation of public spaces. She designs her projects with respect to nature, sustainability, and cultural heritage. On her own initiative, she started an online platform nextcity.nl, together with architect Matthias Lehner, dedicated to developing and sharing knowledge through research, practice, and university education. In 2019, they published their first book “First Guide to Nature Inclusive Building”, recently in 2023, she published the “2nd Guide for Nature Inclusive Design”, which is about the esthetics of urban wilding.

Fred Booy is a planting expert with 40 years of experience specializing in planting, germination, and cultivation of a wide range of trees and plants. He operates a nursery in Boskoop, the Netherlands, where he grows trees and plants and raises large shrubs without the use of pesticides. His knowledge comes not only from books but also from hands-on work.

DS Landscape Architects from the Netherlands is a studio specializing in landscape architecture with a focus on the exploration and design of public spaces and landscapes in various scales. They create new landscapes for all living creatures, not just humans but also for plants and animals. Their field of interest is biodiversity, its application, timeless design, and innovations. The Netherlands is one of the countries with a great development of progressive approaches to landscape architecture.