Award ceremony September 15, 2023 at the Allianz Forum in Berlin

The Association of German Landscape Architects awarded the best works in the competition German Landscape Architecture Prize 2023 on Friday, September 15, 2023, at the Allianz Forum on Pariser Platz in Berlin in the presence of over 400 guests.

In his welcoming remarks, bdla President Prof. Stephan Lenzen reviewed 30 years of the German Landscape Architecture Award. "As a profession, we see the competitions for the German Landscape Architecture Award as the most important instruments for anchoring our profession in society's perception and for placing our competencies for a more intact, livable environment in a more publicly perceptible way. But they also allow for an internal professional comparison of trends and approaches within the profession." He encouraged landscape architects to focus consistently on the future issues of climate adaptation of habitats and biodiversity and to seek innovations "that make us indispensable. To do this, we must not think of our green worlds of tomorrow only as technical spaces for climate adaptation. Our goal must still be to preserve the aesthetic demands. Because ultimately, the strength and unique selling point of our profession lies in the outstanding way it combines ecology and technology with creativity and aesthetics." And this was demonstrated in an outstanding manner by the award-winning works of the 16th year of the competition.

This was also stated by Ministerial Director Dietmar Horn, Head of Department for Urban Development Policy/Spatial Planning in the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Construction, in his welcoming address. "All examples underline: you as landscape architects:inside contribute with your work significantly to increase the quality of open spaces despite strongly increased requirements." Representing the patron of the competition, Federal Minister of Construction Klara Geywitz, he emphasized the importance of landscape architecture. This "is and remains a very essential factor for ecologically sustainable, socially inclusive and at the same time aesthetically designed public spaces." The Federal Ministry of Construction is aware of the high importance of green-blue infrastructure for the quality of life in cities, he said. "That is why climate adaptation is an integral part of our urban development policy. One example: with the federal program 'Adaptation of Urban Spaces to Climate Change', we are promoting the expansion and qualification of green and open spaces to the requirements of climate change with 676 million euros nationwide."

In the ceremony that followed, awards were presented in nine competition categories - all of them reflecting the fields of activity of landscape architects. The German Landscape Architecture Award 2023 for the "Neue Ufer, Überlingen" was accepted by the team of relais Landschaftsarchitekten Heck Mommsen PartGmbB from Berlin together with Roland Leitner, head of the green space office Überlingen, from the hands of MinDir Dietmar Horn and bdla president Prof. Stephan Lenzen.

In conclusion, the bdla president invited all landscape architects and their clients to "decorate" the showcase of German landscape architecture, which receives national and international attention and demonstrates the broad spectrum of the profession's activities to the public, with plans and realized projects in 2025. "Against the backdrop of creating and preserving resilient habitats in a climate-appropriate manner, we will design more minimally, our projects will become simpler, quieter, rougher and perhaps more natural: The unspectacular will become spectacular."

Documentation German Landscape Architecture Award 2023

The festive evening was concluded by a summer party on the Allianz Forum staggered floor with a view of the Brandenburg Gate and the Tiergarten, where 24,000 people had previously demonstrated at the Global Climate Strike for a climate protection law, a real change in transport, a departure at all levels, and honest and swift action.

The end of the 16th competition year was taken by the awarding body as an opportunity to publish a competition documentation with all award-winning and nominated works. The 84-page brochure can be ordered free of charge from bdla.

The results of the competition are summarized on the websites landschaftsarchitektur-heute.de and deutscher-landschaftsarchitektur-preis.de.

Sponsors of the German Landscape Architecture Award 2023 competition

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