From mid-June to mid-July in Amsterdam a landscape architectural ad campaign of sorts is addressing the Amsterdam public. The messages are intended to underscore the relevance of landscape architecture in dealing with issues that affect everyone. The project is one of the outcomes of the Living Landscape research group at the Academy of […]

Jacques Abelman | groundcondition in collaboration with Marijke Bruinsma | de Stuurlui stedenbouw MushroomWall aims to capture a part of the urban waste stream in the form of used coffee grounds and transform it into food— delicious oyster mushrooms. At the same time, the project aims to make the process of recuperation, transformation, and harvesting […]

TEAM: Jacques Abelman, Celine Baumann (celinebaumann.tumblr.com), YukaYoshida STATUS: design research competition The Wildpoints strategy creates a new form of urban green by actively seeking out new places for nature to colonize the city. The biodiversity network of found and new Wildpoints allows insects, birds, and small animal species to establish themselves in micro-habitats across the […]

FAO estimates that to feed a world population expected to number around 9 billion people in 2050, global food production will need to be increased by 70 percent. Global energy demand will increase by 36 percent by 2035, and competition for water between farming, cities and industry will continue to intensify as a result. “Tackling […]

I am on a quest for new directions for landscape architecture. As we witness rapid changes in the physical, economic, and professional environments, what exactly can landscape architecture hope to achieve in the future? Budgets for public projects are dwindling, not to mention budgets for cultural projects, and the national frameworks for environmental projects are […]

THE ETERNAL CITY? Due to faster than expected sea level rise, scientists project that even the drastic intervention of the M.O.S.E. sea barrier project will only delay the permanent flooding of Venice by 100 to 200 years. In this future vision of drastically altered climate conditions, coastal cities such as Venice will have to physically […]

The “Swimming to Manhattan” competition was created by the Amsterdam Academy for Architecture and ARCAM. Jacques Abelman, Txell Blanco Diaz, Simona Serafino, Egle Suminskaite, and Marit Janse collaborated to present Red Point Parks, a vision for future development around New York’s Upper Bay, in a future where the sea has risen over 3 meters. Climate […]

  One of the remarkable characteristics of The Netherlands, especially from the foreigner’s point of view, is the amount of carefully protected open green space surrounding densely populated urban centers. The Dutch are extremely keen on verdant fields with placidly grazing cows and sheep always being within a bike ride away from the city, and […]

from the website of BRACKET: ISSUE #1: ON FARMING Once merely understood in terms of agriculture, today information,energy, labour, and landscape, among others, can be farmed. Farming harnesses the efficiency of collectivity and community. Whether cultivating land, harvesting resources, extracting energy or delegating labor, farming reveals the interdependencies of our globalized world. Simultaneously, farming represents […]