Peter Latz
Encyclopedia
Peter Latz is a German landscape architect
and a professor for landscape architecture
at the Technical University of Munich
. He is best known for his emphasis on reclamation and conversion of former industrialized landscapes. Retired today, he is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and is also a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Latz once noted in a foreword for the book Visionary Gardens by Ernst Cramer that the overall of landscape architecture could be applied in abstract rules. "The beauty of nature lies within the essence and effect of plants and materials."
and grew up in the Saarland
as the son of Heinrich Latz, a German architect. After graduating from high-school he studied landscape architecture at the Technische Schule in Munich, and after taking his diploma in 1964, he joined the four year post graduate education in town planning at the Institute of Urban Development and Regional Planning at the RWTH Aachen
. Peter Latz and his wife, Anneliese, founded their landscape architecture office in Aachen
and in 1968 in Saarbrücken
under the name Latz + Partner. Another urban planning
, system planning and landscape planning
was set up in 1970 and directed until 1976. Latz continue to practice landscape architecture and town planning since then, working with groups of architects, sociologists, and economists. Peter Latz started teaching in 1968 as a lecturer at the Limburgse Akademie voor Bouwkunst in Maastricht
. He became a full time professor for landscape architecture at the Gesamthochschule Kassel
in 1973 and was appointed as a professor at the Landscape Architecture and Landscape Planning Department at the Technical University of Munich in 1983 where he retired in 2008.
in the Ruhr Area
in Germany
. The site of 230 hectares was formerly a very large steel mill
. When it became derelict, Latz+Partners, the firm was commissioned to design the park after winning an international design competition with the master plan for the whole site in 1991. They decided to keep the main structures and to incorporate them into a postmodern landscape design. A series of gardens were planted within and around the ruins with the use of the traditional horticulture. Clipped hedges, knot gardens, parterres, bosks, and rose gardens had created juxtaposition between this formal garden that is situated within a post-industrial site. Duisburg-Nord was a successful landscape garden because Latz had altered the relationship that humans had with the existing site. Because of this project Peter Latz, besides the American landscape architect Richard Haag
, is considered to be one of the international pioneers for the reclamation
and conversion of former industrialized landscapes.
The philosophy of his Latz+Partners firm focuses not only on quality but also on the technical competence and the know-how. Since the 1980s, the firm begins to gear towards the metamorphosis of postindustrial sites.
Landscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
and a professor for landscape architecture
Landscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
at the Technical University of Munich
Technical University of Munich
The Technische Universität München is a research university with campuses in Munich, Garching, and Weihenstephan...
. He is best known for his emphasis on reclamation and conversion of former industrialized landscapes. Retired today, he is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and is also a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Latz once noted in a foreword for the book Visionary Gardens by Ernst Cramer that the overall of landscape architecture could be applied in abstract rules. "The beauty of nature lies within the essence and effect of plants and materials."
Early life
Peter Latz was born in DarmstadtDarmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
and grew up in the Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
as the son of Heinrich Latz, a German architect. After graduating from high-school he studied landscape architecture at the Technische Schule in Munich, and after taking his diploma in 1964, he joined the four year post graduate education in town planning at the Institute of Urban Development and Regional Planning at the RWTH Aachen
RWTH Aachen
RWTH Aachen University is a research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with roughly 33,000 students enrolled in 101 study programs....
. Peter Latz and his wife, Anneliese, founded their landscape architecture office in Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
and in 1968 in Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
under the name Latz + Partner. Another urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
, system planning and landscape planning
Landscape planning
Landscape planning is a branch of landscape architecture. Urban park systems and greenway of the type planned by Frederick Law Olmsted are key examples of urban landscape planning. Landscape designers tend to work for clients who wish to commission construction work...
was set up in 1970 and directed until 1976. Latz continue to practice landscape architecture and town planning since then, working with groups of architects, sociologists, and economists. Peter Latz started teaching in 1968 as a lecturer at the Limburgse Akademie voor Bouwkunst in Maastricht
Maastricht
Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
. He became a full time professor for landscape architecture at the Gesamthochschule Kassel
University of Kassel
The University of Kassel, founded in 1970, is one of the newer universities in the state of Hesse. The university is in Kassel, and as of September 2010 has about 18,113 students...
in 1973 and was appointed as a professor at the Landscape Architecture and Landscape Planning Department at the Technical University of Munich in 1983 where he retired in 2008.
Career
Among his best known projects is the Landschaftspark Duisburg-NordLandschaftspark Duisburg-Nord
Landschaftspark is a public park located in Duisburg Nord, Germany.It was designed in 1991 by Latz + Partner , with the intention that it work to heal and understand the industrial past, rather than trying to reject it...
in the Ruhr Area
Ruhr Area
The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The site of 230 hectares was formerly a very large steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
. When it became derelict, Latz+Partners, the firm was commissioned to design the park after winning an international design competition with the master plan for the whole site in 1991. They decided to keep the main structures and to incorporate them into a postmodern landscape design. A series of gardens were planted within and around the ruins with the use of the traditional horticulture. Clipped hedges, knot gardens, parterres, bosks, and rose gardens had created juxtaposition between this formal garden that is situated within a post-industrial site. Duisburg-Nord was a successful landscape garden because Latz had altered the relationship that humans had with the existing site. Because of this project Peter Latz, besides the American landscape architect Richard Haag
Richard Haag
Richard Haag is a United States landscape architect. He is famous for his work on Gas Works Park in Seattle, Washington and on the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. He is also noted for founding the Landscape Architecture Program at the University of Washington and for holding multiple design...
, is considered to be one of the international pioneers for the reclamation
Land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...
and conversion of former industrialized landscapes.
The philosophy of his Latz+Partners firm focuses not only on quality but also on the technical competence and the know-how. Since the 1980s, the firm begins to gear towards the metamorphosis of postindustrial sites.
Awards
- 2000 First European Prize for Landscape Architecture Rosa Barba in BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
for the design of Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord - 2001 Grande Médaille d’Urbanisme by the Académie royale d’architectureAcadémie d'architectureThe Académie royale d'architecture was a French learned society founded on December 30, 1671 by Louis XIV, king of France under the impulsion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert...
in Paris - 2005 Place Planning Award of the Environmental Design Research AssociationEnvironmental Design Research AssociationThe Environmental Design Research Association is an international, interdisciplinary organization founded in 1968 by design professionals, social scientists, students, educators, and facility managers...
(EDRA) in Edmond, USA
Projects (Selection)
- University of Marburg (Germany) on Lahnberge (1976–1980)
- University Hospital Marburg (Germany) on Lahnberge (1976–1985)
- Buergerpark Hafeninsel, Saarbruecken (Germany) (1980–1989)
- 5 gardens for the gardenshow BUGA 1985 in Berlin, „Green Houses“, Berlin – Britz (1981–1985)
- Technical University of Munich, Institute for Landscape and Botany (1986–1988)
- Granta ParkGranta ParkGranta Park is a science, technology and biopharmaceutical park based on the bank of the River Granta in Great Abington near Cambridge, England....
, Cambridge (United Kingdom) (1997) - Science City Ulm on the Eselsberg, University Section West (1988-201)
- Greenbelt Fankfurt, Frankfurt am Main (1990–1992)
- Landschaftspark Duisburg-NordLandschaftspark Duisburg-NordLandschaftspark is a public park located in Duisburg Nord, Germany.It was designed in 1991 by Latz + Partner , with the intention that it work to heal and understand the industrial past, rather than trying to reject it...
(1990–2001) - Plateau de Kirchberg, Luxemburg (1990–2008)
- Atelier, House and Garden in Ampertshausen near Kranzberg (1991 until today)
- Pedestrian Zone in Melsungen (1996)
- Jardin de brume, Festival International des Jardins, Chaumont-sur-Loire (1998)
- Parco Dora, Turin (since 2004)
- Hiriya Landfill Restoration, Ayalon Park, Tel Aviv (since 2004)
Literature
- Technische Universität München, Chair for Landscape Architecture and Industrial Landscape LAI (Ed.): Learning from Duisburg Nord. München 2009, ISBN 9783941370074
- Weilacher, UdoUdo WeilacherUdo Weilacher, Prof. Dr. sc. ETH, is a German landscape architect, author and Professor for Landscape Architecture.-Biography:Udo Weilacher, born in Kaiserslautern/ Germany, was originally educated as a gardener in 1984...
(2008). Syntax of Landscape. The Landscape Architecture by Peter Latz and Partners. Basel Berlin Boston: Birkhauser Publisher. ISBN 978-3-7643-7615-4 - Peter Latz: The metamorphosis of an industrial site. in: Niall Kirkwood (Ed.): Manufactured Sites London/New York 2001
- Cramer, Ernst. Visionary Gardens: Modern Landscapes (Berlin: Birkauser) 9-11.
- Latz, Peter. The Matamorphosis of an Industrial Site in: Niall Kirkwood (Ed.):Manufactured Sites: Re-thinkining the Post-Industrial Landscape.(London: Spoon Press, 2001).
- Rosenberg, Elissa. (Ed.)Sanda Iliescu. The hand and the soul: aesthetics and ethics in architecture and art (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009).
- Turner, Tom. Garden History: Philosophy and Design 2000 BC-2000 AD (New York: Spoon Press, 2005) 273-275.
- Weilacher, Udo. Syntax of Landscape. The Landscape Architecture by Peter Latz and Partners. (Basel Berlin Boston: Birkhauser Publisher).
- "Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord, Duisburg, Germany". Design Observer. 2 December 2010.