Ground can be taken in so many different ways- it is the absolute context of our work as landscape designers, urbanists, and architects, but is also refers to the inner space from which ideas emanate.
Groundcondition sets out to explore ideas of current and future importance to the profession of landscape architecture as well as things that transgress its professional boundaries.
I am based in the Netherlands. Here, urbanism, landscape architecture, and architecture are considered one transversal field called “bouwkunst” or the building arts. In many cases land has to be designed and constructed first. The Dutch say god created the earth, but they made the Netherlands. That is the historical context for work in the field of landscape architecture today, which is part of what makes it forward thinking and strong. Many sustainable models of water and land management have been developed here over hundreds of years in a context of limited resources. We are now endeavoring to explore and expand these models for the future, and hopefully export them to where they will be most needed.
I attended Amherst College in Massachusetts as an Independent Scholar. I combined studies in environmental science with fine arts and philosophy. I then went on to intern at Max’s Pot in Austin with Pliny Fisk and also with Sim van der Ryn in Sausalito, California. For several years I worked as an environmental artist, ecological builder, and garden designer. After taking a Master’s in Design for the Environment at Chelsea College in London, I stayed in Europe to pursue sustainability and design, eventually settling in Amsterdam. I have worked for several leading Dutch landscape architecture firms and attended the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture where I received my MLA degree.