Landscape Works with Piet Oudolf and LOLA

Sharawadgi marked the beginning of a search for a new ideal of beauty in landscape architecture. In this style form, in this pursuit, LOLA and Oudolf find each other in their design practice. Sharawadgi, for this reason, eventually became the title and a guiding topic in their shared lecture in Stockholm. In the pursuit of sharawadgi, or designing and realising landscapes that respond to our idea of naturalness on an emotional level, the book highlights five key dimensions of the contemporary landscape.

Chapter 1: Nature composition

This chapter focuses on composition as a guide for new landscapes. Here, Piet Oudolf's drawings serve as examples of a designed 'natural landscape', with additional focus on his own garden in Hummelo and Hauser&Wirth's garden in Somerset. Artist Anne Geene poetically visualises the passing of the seasons in a garden. Geert Mul's work Natureally is a digital composition of a nature experience.

Chapter 2: New terroirs

On our connection with the subsoil and the cultural history of the soil. This is reflected in the reinterpretation and activation of landscapes that have been written off, such as the former salt flat of Ulcinj in Montenegro, for which LOLA developed a future strategy. Vijai Patchineelam and Adrijana Gvozdenovic made a visual report of this monumental landscape, linking the current state of nature to (political) developments in the region. Artist Giuseppe Licari photographed the accidental landscapes created during resource extraction in mines and quarries. At the vanished Etzenrade castle, LOLA and Oudolf realised an archaeology garden, in which the archaeological research method is leading in the design. Sanne Vaassen created a new work for this garden, also preserving the colours of the plants as archaeological finds.

Chapter 3: Everyone is a gardener

The role and activation of the community is central to Oudolf's and LOLA's designs. The Vlinderhof near Utrecht, for instance, is entirely laid out and managed by volunteers, after local resident Marc Kikkert approached Piet Oudolf for a design on his own initiative. Star Maze in Tytjerk is a joint design by LOLA and Oudolf, with management also an important part of the design. Kie Ellens photographed the growth and development of this park for years. The Lurie Garden is Oudolf's first design in the US; former director Laura Ekasetya explains how she used management of the garden to support native plants and insects.

Chapter 4: Lifelines

The movement of the user is central, but also of reusing existing and forgotten connections and networks in an urban environment. The High Line in New York is a striking example of this and probably Oudolf's best-known design. Filmmaker Thomas Piper followed Oudolf for a long time for his film Five Seasons, and explains how a garden-just like a film-is above all about time and movement. The 27-kilometre Leisure Lane is a new design by LOLA in which the old mining railways in Parkstad are transformed into a long-distance cycling and walking route, bordered by Oudolf's plant design. Artist Darcy Neven shows that even those without a garden can still garden. With her vegetable garden on wheels, she walks from place to place, with the social contacts that develop being an important part of the garden.

Chapter 5: Dreamy Realism

The challenge of global climate change is central and how landscape design can actively contribute solutions to it. Grandiose dreaming and pragmatic design go hand in hand. Based on experiences in Genk and Shenzhen, LOLA developed a new design strategy for forests. This algorithmic forest design is being applied for the first time in Madrid. A pioneer in thinking about urban forests and the relationship between city and nature is the artist Joseph Beuys, with his 7000 Eichen project in Kassel. Volker Schäfer of the 7000 Eichen foundation explains how the artwork still has a great impact on the city decades later and how the trees even influence the city administration.