LANDSCAPE “Tlove to shift between different scales.” Of gardens, parks, and landscapes ‘an ice-cold sunny Osea aay Late moning. Ato tobe inthe Param Restaurant SoFataoip ith paeramicview of tna landscape round vos Being i the lager Ar Newveu hotel, doing tom atime when thea and ondecope in Dove stl promizadhelingrowsrsand when akin of ‘magi spe stl iy over ts mount tea Bonhnerenthosasng ‘canter, what do you soe? ‘An unbelievably beautiful landscape, Swiss landscape, blanketed in snow-with jost the woods standing out ‘somewhat, We are in an Alpine region, in Davos, and of ‘course this is picture-postoard Switzerland, exactly ‘what people expect when they come to the mountains there, But at the same time this landscape Is also a resource for the people who live here. The main thing {s which role you are playing, which attitude you take, ‘nd what Kind of background knowledge you have asyou gaze at this landscape, Depending on each of these actors, you can see very diferent thingsinit-+38 ‘Towthatontont does cur perception oftholarderape have todo wth ourknowiadge about? ‘Many people would describe what wessohoroas “nature,” ‘The use of the term “landscape” already indicates that ‘we mean a construct, asthe Swwise soelologist Luctus ‘Burckhardt ones put it. “Landscape” i technical term, ‘andinrelation tothe Alpinelandscapoinfrentofushere itmeans a cultivated landscape in which peopl live and ‘ork in the areas of farming, tonrism or industry, and ‘commerce. It isnot usta scenic backrop for our vaca- ton and leisure time. The more you know about this cultural are, the more you can eniey it landscape youslao know about, you mesh thatthe hiker atthe abe next our, whole making stop 09 the Schstaip nd eamstobeeroyng he view of he Davo andecape Ditpossiy conan know about car really appreciate tis 'No, of course that’s not what I mean, But that kind of enjoyment is confined to the purely aesthetic level, at Toast in most eases. you consume landscape only 2s an image, your perception also remeins superficial. What's ‘more theseimayeshave already been consumed through ‘tourism advertising and they are always idealized plo- ‘tures ofthe landscape. This ideal image then becomes part ofthe tourists’ expectations so that they can only really enjoy th view ft presents them withthispicture, An eal landscape ia orosted that practically only works when the sans shining—Iike today—and people almost Delieve they can ask for thelr money back ithe weather | not good. We once made field trip with our office to the French speaking part of Canton Jura, And there T ceameto the conclusion that the significance ofthe san is ‘overrated-here I'm borrowing somewhat from Joseph Beuys, who once said about Marcel Duchamp: “Marcel Duchamp’ silence is overvalued." In facta landscape ‘ean be more beautiful in the ran, as you see far more, ‘and the entire atmosphere is much more exeting. In picture-porteard Switzerland its almost a relief Ifthe ‘weather isn't good allthe timeand itrains now and then. ‘And Tlike to go out into this landscape, vo expose myselt physically to it, not just to go skling or hiking and not forthe sake ofexorcise or sport. 'minterested inplacing ‘myself directly in a relationship with landscape—and ‘ot justin sitting on aterrace and enjoyingthe view. Whi e what weve dng ight wow... thalpine landscapo theoneyoulnow bast? ‘Tm not so sure that Thnow it beter than all others, but certainly kmour it very woll I grew up in this alpine landscape and, sta very early age—say around nine or ten=I started to question thi image of the landscape, ‘As a young boy you don’t see the landscape as spectacu- lar soonery. Iwas far more intarestad in what grows there, and why. Thad already discovered botany and ultimately this led me to my profession, This selentfte approach later helped me to understand what Lucius ‘Burelthardt meant: you can only enjoy landscape if you also know what les behind it orhow it works,Inexacty whet in of lancscape did you pow ui? grew up not far from here, n Balzorein Liechtonstoin. “Today I no longer see any boundaries between all these countries or administrative entities, such as Switzer- land, Austra, or tly, which share the alpine region. Each time [find myself in the Alps Tsve the similarities. ‘Aacl that’s whst mean hy cultural landscape. This kin~ shipisalso evident in pine cuisine, for example, which {s prety similar in all eight alpine countries, and in music and lteratare as well—we are shaped by the land- ‘scape, by the similar living conditions. How didyour athe landecape shape you? [Behind my parents’ house there was a mountain that soared to a height of two thousand meters and I was, sways dowen in the valle, beside this river, tae Rhine: that was naturally impressive but in an opposite way ‘to our present sition, where we ar sitting on a ter~ ies, enjoying these distant, lofty views across the land- seape, Froma scientific perspectivemy native landscape {s very spacial in several espeots it was precisely there that the Rhine glacier spit and, as a result ofthis geo- Jogieal situation, Balzors has the greatest density and blo-diversity of plants in the entire region. Of course, ‘not many people know that, but because of my interest inseience Twas aware of this from a very ently age. Asa result the place in which I grow up became something very special for me. ow oyu apprpsatesandocape the esintiie approsch anosciee ‘Whenever [visita landscape Thave todo some advance planning. Pirst ofall I must look at geological and geo- sraphical maps snd study the place in advance inorder to understand what awaits me, Even if a landacape is supertcally spectacular don'tfindit interesting unless understand what I am Jooking at. Otherwise I can’t ‘even appreciate tholandseape properly. 1keop on asking myself what isthe geomorphological reason that it]ooks like this? Or: why does this kind of vegetation cocur here? And if don't now the answers, then that makes rme really nervous. You could say that this isa kind of ‘qurkbut its the way I have trained myself to appro- priate a landscape. My appropriation of alandseape is ‘therefore vory intensive and it stars athome.1 can also appropriate a landscape such as the rainforest in Mada- sasear, bt needed slmosta year of preparation before Teould travel to thejungle there fortwo weeks, Previous- ly Thad known verylitle about itand therefore, withthe help ofan expert, Thadtoacyuirealotofknowledgetobe able to understand what I was looking at when Twas there. Otherwise it would have been pointless for me to sg thereat all, Landeape only becomes really spectacu- larwhen you know what you are looking at ‘You just mentonad Madagaesarto fly understand what sour own we often need the frsgn lardeenpe se Kind of eourtr image Which frig’ andseapes in pasular ve faslnatea you? {think that the most lasting impressions have been rade by those landscapes that are relatively close to ‘the onas I know. For instance, the landscapes of France for above all England. In our publication Distance &Engagement? we deliberately didn’texamine the geology ‘of Switzerland because it is 60 overt, so spectacular; instead we chose the geology of England. There we asked an expert a geologist, to accompany us for three or four days tothe Lake District and to explain what we would 00 there, He wasable to showus het thislandseapewas not shaped by just one ie age but thet, in the layers of rock, you can read four, five or six diferent ie ages 10s ‘unbelievably impressive whenyou can seethis passazeot ‘ime and become aware of the enormous seale on which ‘theworld has changed, But you can only have this expeti- ‘ence ifyou have this background knowledgeand this per sonal, physical relationship tothe scale of the landscape. ‘And the example ofthe Lake District once again intro- ‘dyoos the idea ofthe landscape asa cultural space. Now rogutded almost asthe epitome ofthe beautiful English countryside, thislandecapewss in fact discovered by the English in Italy. Ontheir Grand Tours they were so fasci- natedby the Tuscancountrysidethatwhen they returned ‘home they sought alandscape that looked similar. Previ- cowaly the Lake District had been just a marshy area of ro particular ageicultural valuo but suddenly, following thet sesthetie appropriation ofaforelgnlandseape, they scathetically reinterpreted part oftheir own—by English standards a comparatively gentle form ofclonialim, ‘Youve mentinod the kind of acetate appropriation hat ‘nore trough the image Your nay of appropriating andeeape ould parhaps be desrbed ae plstemlogel some snd knonadge-baeed, Dose knowing 2 much about tees landscapes mean yaulase something of your eapasty fr surly sutatc onoymene? Lsoscare 'No, despite all the knowledge think stllhavethiskkind of enjoyment. In any caso you con never switch off the aesthetic aspect, especialy when you bring landscape ‘nd design together. And thet is among the most difficult aspects of my profession: bringing togother the ssiemtif- fc and the aesthetic aspects, What is important for me {in appropriating a landsoape is also important when signing. Both are needed: a scientific, knowledge- ‘based approach and an sesthetic one. Without the for- ‘merthe design becomes too superficial. But this doesn’t ‘mean tht the viewers and users of the designed land- ‘scape must alao have this knowledge. Lets aeete foreign andscapesandreturtothe one coset ut. Cur ow othe Daves landecape ft fal focuses ‘onvaious aden nthe foreground: we sepa Note gardan tnd an Apineu loins garden) —a epoca frm o betanlal tanden, What aren cancapt hind nedfrent type of garden iscomoxt? ‘Those forms of garden are atypical phenomenon in such, surroundings: confronted with the sublime quality of the landscape, there is an attempt to make the vastness ‘meastrabe, at least to somte extent, through the aztif- cial form of the garden. You have the magnificent land- scape of the Alps in the background and then you build an alpine garin, a kind of miniaturized version, fn the foreground. Through this miniature the larger form hocomes more manageablo;all at once you can get ‘an overview of this vast landscepe—which ean also be ‘very dangerous—and have the feling of mastering it. In this eense the minizturization of the gerdon can be sen ae device uted to appropriate landscape. Atthesame time thealpine garden is also about thefufliment ‘of expectations. When you come to the Swiss Alps you ‘expect to see alpine flora: above all the Swiss national flower, the Edelweiss, But hecause tourists who want tofind it in the wild would have to venture far into the landscape, and would need expert knowledge ofthe area, ‘this wish is met through th artificial form of the garden: ‘you discover Edelweiss growing convenient in a pot beside the hotel entrance. The garden also stands for ‘akind of exaggerated esteem, wich inthe case of Edel- ‘weiss is almost a litle iron, as this lower originally ‘comes from the Pannonlan steppe. Our national icon is ‘also found on the Romanian ffty-lei banknote because ‘that’s where itoriginallyeame from. That we find there hhasto do withthe way it spread duringthe Ice Age. Then delwoist adapted to the high alpine regions and sur- vived here "Naturally, the garden in front ofthe ofthe Sehatzalp Hotel also relates tothe history ofthisplace, to the time ‘when the hotel was ail a sanatorium and visitors hop- {ng the Davos air could euro thelr tubereulosis prome- naded around the garden; they could take a Ite stroll ‘against the backdrop of the landscape without having to feco tho exertion of actually walking through it ‘nat your personal lationship with gardens? id you grow (My two grandmothers and my mother all had huge gar- dns. This certainly left its mark on me; was the only ‘one in the family besides them who loved working in the garden. Every Wednesday afternoon, when Thad no ‘ohool, Thad to—or, better sad, 1 was allowed to—work in the garden, and even back then T really enjoyed it. loved eecing how the vegetables we ate at unch grew fn our garden and that they had to be cultivated and looked afte. And even today I relly like weeding sepa- tinge good from the bad—natever you understand by good and bad—uitimately becomes an existential ‘question in a garden, Growing up in a gardon like this as achild was certainly decisive and it also shaped my perception of scale. By chance my two grandmothers had the same variety of pony atthe entrance'to each of their gardens. Back then the plants were as big as Iwas, 0 the flowers wore about the size of my head, Today ‘lock down at a peony from above but my first and last ing impression i that once Led to look up atthe peony. {thinkthis is why the question of scale stil intorests me so much, right up tothe present day. “Andthis brings another story tomind-inur ld office garden we had mythical animals—that is to say, shrubs ‘hich my office partner Dieter Kienast had pruned into the shapes of enormous figures. Among these fabulous creatures was a huge rooster, which always reminded ime that once, when Twas still very small, Thad been attacked by a rooster inthe garden of one of my grand= ‘mothers, Backthen the rooster seemed huge. The"roost- "in our office garden was a six-meter-tall shrab and ‘once again [felt small, just like back then when this bist bird came for mo. think that memories of thiskkind are ‘very, very important, especially when one is talking about gardens. A garden is always also a plece of autobi- ‘ograpiy in which many traes ofthe past aro loft. This {is why the loveliest gardens are not simply superficially Dbeautifil but devive thie life from quirky things thet‘you can’t explain; for me theso are poetical gardens in the bost sense of the term, Why do we find tham so pottic? Because they tell us about themselves and recount stories of what they have experienced, Today this is more dificult, because many peoplehaveno expe- rience with «garden oftheir own and then everything remains ata purely aostheticlevel only. ‘The gardens of our grandmathers and yourmther wor also frultand vegetable gerdens. nother wots, thesegardenshod ‘ct nlvence onthe food yous. Th wee pasty your Fire contact with coking whieh toy inane your passions Seeing this direct interdependency betwean tho garden ana the kitchen was certainly exoiting and many things ‘were aleocasiertounderstand when they wereexplained toyoubyusing areal object. Forinstance, wewere never ven sugary soft drinks, only a syrup extracted from various Kinds of plants and fruits, But aa a litte boy naturally you wanted to have the same soft draks as all the others, Through the wiles of our grandmothers and mother hewover, welearned to accept that we shouldn't take alot of sugar and that, when we did, then itwasbet- ter inthe form of syrup made from natural ingredients, ‘Which also tates far better. Butyou need tobe guided in this direction, Perhaps this is why I still havea choice of syrupsin our office today. And athome woate vegetables every day-fresh vegetables or winter vegetables that Ina to be preserved in diftarent way 20 we would have something of the same quality to eat in winter. For ‘these were litle daily case studies that helped me dis- ‘cover what lies behind things—and today [really appre- ciate the relationship between the garden and cooking ‘Yousee how the gerdenenters the house and, withit, the _seagons: you see this in what you eat butyou alo see it in the hunch of flowers that stands on the table: «mini- arden, so to speak Doyoutithave a garden tay? No. well, not really. Like most city-dwelles all have are ‘the herbs you noed for cooking: the ones you always for~ get to buy, thich then means that you cant cook some- thing spontaneously. Ihave only avery, very stall baleo ay where row these herbs—far removed from any kind (of aesthetics. On this leony Talso have lake that mea- sures a spectacular hala square meter in which a white water lily grows ~ s0 Fve have taken minieturzation to the extreme, you could say. The lake, of course, sug- fests a large gordon bt the function is restricted to the ‘herbs—the aromas, if you like—and al of this is boiled down on these two and a half aquare meters reduced towihat ie faible, Perhaps you could almost doseribo it ‘asa garden, but avery whimsical kind of garden, In uence as you were by yournate landscape and you familys arden, now dd youcome o workin landscape architecture? ‘Can ourecal your at conse ith landscape architecture? “Yes, [cantellyou precisely when that wass Iwas sixyears ‘ld when a gardening firm from near Zurich that was ‘very well known atthe time redesigned our garden in Balzers, Firstly Teas fascinated by the fat that my par- contawanted a diffaentleindof garden to theoxitingone. ‘Back then it was very unusual for people in the country tohave agarden, as all around us thoro was still lot of ‘agricultural production. What this gardening frm did‘was tomakeanornamontal garden alongside the kitchen garden, introducing this aspect of something without fanction, ause. Ths s how the city eamo tothe country, you could almost say-Back inthe 1960s you could really still put it like that, and this meant that the concern ‘was no longer production in the economie sense ofthe term but rather the purely aesthetic value of the garden. Connected with this “uselossnece” wae aleo the bows sols concept of celebration: that you can afford to culti- ‘vate somiething useless and thst you have the time to o s0, This garden conversion was my first encounter with Iandscape design; T was absolutely fascinated by how these poople, almost ike ina flm soript repeatedly gathered around this piece of paperthe plan—and dis- ‘cussed it with exch other, nd then did alittesomething hhere and dlitie something there, and suddenly they had createda seatingarea, aidout apath,orplanted a shrub somewhere ... and the garden slowly took on a new shape. 1 watched them for days on end and, without knowing exactly what thetr profession was, apparently sald that this was what I wanted todo some day. Lace trnto the view again andeliet our gaze from the garden Ine freground othe landscape inthe background —from taslpine garden totes. The Alps ousboroad asa paradigm forthe change that has taken place overthe cure of time Incurrlationshptolandscape:to puttin nutsha, fom the erepton of thes mouitsinaas the menacing face of nature to heiruee ae ahind of eroatonparke Naturally, we always see this wonderfully beautiful, snow-covered, icy landscape-while still being fully aware of just how dangerous it can be, Today we ean Lnoscape exert mare contro over the Alps—at the large scale, to, snot jut in the miniatarizod forms ofthe alpine gurden- Dut there's stil always a certain amount of danger. This 4s indicated, for instance, bythe innumerable avalanche ‘ariers we see all over the mountain slopes, When the Alps wore still largely inaccessible thoy were, of course, rogerded far more ase threatening forco, and the da they presented often formed the stuff of legends, This can still be seen today in place names such as Teufels- Driicke (Devils Bridge) on the route over Gotthard Pass and the legends associated with it. In the eighteenth ‘century this view ofthe Alps asa terrifying place began. twchange, With hisaestheticoategory ofthe sublime the philosopler Edmund Burke provided the theoretical soundwork for this change, What was once seen ss ter- sifving was reinterpreted as something sublime; viewed ‘rom distance the manace was transformed into rome- ‘hing fascinating. From this time onwards the sublime ‘became a formative visual motifin connection withthe Alps. After the Enlightenment hed awakened an interest {in nature in general—and the Alps in particular—an ‘era began in which these mountains were explored and the fist high summits were sealed. The frst people to“discover" the Alps, so tospeak, were the English »p 3 In 1887 they founded the frst Alpine Club in the world ‘and appropriated the Alps in their typical colonial man- nner In the courte of industrisization the transport infraseructare improved and the opening wp ofthe Alps ‘made it possible for a wider public vo lay claim to them— leading to the frst forms of mass tourism by the end of ‘the nineteenth century: This then paved the way tothe perception ofthe Alpsasakind of leisure park‘A aresltntuve ence seen as atest, nasitselftrsatened— st laa fromthe apn othe nati conservators athe startofthe tweetieth century The increasing devlapmant of an Infrastructure inthe Ape —eulminsting ina cebatasbowt balding Mateahors funicular proved te basi the deelopment ofthe National Parkin Seitzarlan ‘Yes, the dea for the Swiae National Pack inthe Engedine ‘came from clty-dwellers—in this case middle-class cieles in Base. In addition to the threat posed by the nezeasing development of the Alps through transport Infrastructure, the motivation came from the fact that. ‘at that timo, the area of the present-day National Parl ‘was terribly over-used—for alpine pastures and forestry. "The main idea behind the National Park was therefore first and foremost nature conservation, butts “nature” Ihad first tobe allowed to rogenerate itself, Initially the foal wastoachieve an almestprimal statoeP natura, the ‘way it had been before the intrusion of hunsan beings, snd research was tobe conduoted into this state, Today you are still made aware of the protective idea when you walk through the National Park. I once read a sign tthe edge of the tral thet said, “From here onwards nature becomes sensitive” Tasked myself: what is that supposed to mean? If you are not allowed to leave the routes then the park slike a botanical or zologicl gar denin which you have to abide y strict rales, ike in city ‘parle inthe early twentieth cantury when it was forbid. den towalkon thelavns. “day. onehundeod years tar. the national park concepts ‘nee again highly opel eee in Sitzarina an since 2007 the statahnsbeen actively implementing par polio. "The support from the federal government is nothing romarkable; the name “National Park” already implies ‘that the pack is forthe entire nation. Today everyhody— ‘whether in Bern, Zurich, or Genevaprojects onto this park thelr spectic idea of what Switzerland i all bout. ‘Consequently the park idea becomes political tool with ‘which an entire region ean be boosted economically, linked with the idea of protecting specific landsoape ‘qualities In this context the park is treated primly as label ‘utaboveand beyond thla“park witha label today one ould ra the anti ar ofthe Alpe pat, ust as you have suggested nat do you tink about thi developmen of he Alp ito a liste garkorevenint"sports equipment use temeoind bythe German geographer Werner ating? Actually, there is nothing new about the dea ofthe Alps 8 a park; what is difforent today isthe intensity with whlch they are used 2.21 The development has been continuous: atthe star of the provious century tourism ‘was the preserve of certain elites, but since the 1960s it has ineressingly become a mass phenomenon, an indus: tay. Ifyou look today atthe infrastructure notwork that extends from the eties surrounding the Alps through ‘thearo described by themountainsit becomes clear why At ls perfectly reasonable to speak of a park. As these {infrastructure conneetions are steadily becoming more ficient and fastor, the importance ofthe Alps as a lei- sure resource is growing. Talso think that inthe future leisure will become even more important—and leisure ‘means the consumption of landscape. Isee this with our students and our staf: they no longer define themselves,‘through thei jobs or their work alone but also throuth tho activities thet componsato forthe time spont work: ing:how high i the quality of my leisure time? This has ‘lotto do with andscepe, withthe Alps butalso withthe ‘countryside surrounding the metropolitan areas. This reveals why Switzerland always scores well in rankings based on the quality of the workplace, Apart from the ‘educational facilities and the politcal stability, ix Swit: zerland we also have & landscape of a very high quality— inboth summer and winter. Quite simply, the question is how far do we want to 0 with this urbanization of the landscape? Almost all the landscape we ace here is used for touriem or agricul ture in one form of another, Looking at Davos we see ‘on the fr side ofthe slope a highly efficient transporta- tion network with ll theskt Lis. We see what looks ike ‘white mist, but in fac ist mist at all: t's the snow: makers creating the ideal lelsure-time landscape Its regarded as simply unacceptable that tourists should ‘come here and find there Is not enough snow. So we make it. From this perspective what we are looking at hore is a totally industrialized landscape. I is still very Deauifully clothed, no doubt, but I wonder whether it is really necessary that every slope should be made accessible? Ithisisthe case thon the Alpswon'tbecome justa park butalso a piece of sports equipment, etechni- cal infrastructure. And generally wnat we are talking about here are just tho acathete, visible interventions, but in fact every straighteningofa ski run hasa decisive influence on vegetation, erosion, et cetera. The alpine landscape is very sensitive to interventions and disrup- tions. ‘avtyoucan'tread the Alps inthe sme wayeveryuare, a3 ‘ana phanomencn. Bae the resorts thee ae spaces that 25 "apie flow land? The latent dang ‘overuse by tourism sontrast ih avery diferent phenomenon; ‘the fact that may alpine areas aon longer bsingused means that ferme lpne pastures are revertingtowideress rare racualy bling covered by Forest. ‘When the ETH Studio Base introduced the term "waste land” to the public discourse, this was, of cours, heated- ly discussed and also given very native connotations— above all by people living and working in those regions dotoribed as “fallow land” which I completoly under- stand, However, the term “Tallow land” should be ques ‘tioned oratleastdifferentisted. It comesoriginally from ‘agriculture and was used inthe three-fld erop rotation system to describe a fleld that was not cultivated for a certain period but wa lft fallow soi could rogenorate and be used again Inter. The term "fallow" therefore {plies a form of cultivation and the potential for fur- ther use inthe Future. The mare recent American term “waiting land” expresses this even more cleary: piece cof land tht ie erating anew uso, Following industral- ‘gation, theterm "wasteland" was alsoappliedto the city and was used to deseribe abandoned or disused industri- al areas. Today the term “allow land’ is applied to the entire urban landscape and always refers to something ‘that ino onger being made use of In the context of the Jandscape the reversion to wilderness, and the encroach- ‘ent ofthe forest associated with ie far frembeing 2 solely Swiss phenomenon. It ean be observed throug- ‘out Europe—and not just in alpine rogions +p.‘Theincreasng erotachmentofthefrestalzo rates ne ‘weston about theidoas of potcton andof the national park. Fornatana the Feros ot in Stand dates forth ne of te ninetsenh cantury om atime when te forest was stilbeingescessively used and cleared andthere was genuine oud to protect. Inthe tution ty in which theforest Is again spreading so wie you ask yourself whsthar whats wowing there can be regarded publi rvauro. Ata visual lovel the encroachment of the forest seems like the return of nature through the process of natural succession: first of all the former pasture is colonized by pioneering plants and then eventually becomes 3 forest And, depending on the phase, we tend to find this idyllic and worth protecting. But we can't declare every: thing a national park. The problem of the encroaching forest is that there is no concept behind it. Although ft looks like nature and Bike an entirely normal forest ln fact this wasteland lg sul part of an urbanized con: text: is based on 8 zoning plan and a plot system with private owners. Supefically it may look like a freely aveessible landscape but in principle itis private—and ‘what happens ifthe private owners demand their prop: exty back? Or if large numbers of plots are bought ww? ‘You can't preserve things by stmply not changing them. ‘Tat eto say, even if we ike this new image of “nature,” st vont survive, Here the term “fallow land” is again of| relevance: these areas reconquered by the forest have ‘the potential to be ro-urbanized, That does not meat ‘that the original use will retwm but rather that new ‘demands willbe made on them, These ean come ftom the infrastructure of industry—whether it be trafic, ‘energy production, ormining—or inattmectivelocations, from tourism, The great danger here is that all these landscapes will he privatized, And, given the dimension of the phenomenon of ageieutaral wasteland through- ‘out Burope, 1 am of the opinion that we now need to start a political debate about this phenomenon and the Jirection in which this landscape should develop, and boliove that the thome of energy production should also be included in this debate. But we shouldn't wait to ‘make these decisions until concrete projects relating to tourism, energy, or infrastructure have been present: ‘ed:instead we neod to discuss this matter at a far wid and larger scale That's why we have bog a ressarch project on the theme of fallow land at the Eidgende sisohe Technische Hochsebule (ETH) in Zurich, Infact hat wee ooking st now onthe slope oppost,thls ‘weer laure park salar of pivatzed andscape— yuh to py adision nth fe ofa k-pae inorder to lmmeciatly eth Kurark (Spa Gardens) the centr ofthe tonn—and we have jut been talking about the Ape asa pare ur park. here othe citfernces ea what da the Aitorent sncopte ofa pana ine ‘What they both share Is the fact thet the park Idea is essentially an urban concept. The differences are pri- marily amatter of scale. Dependingon the evel at which you Took at them you ean talk of diferent eitypark con- stellation atthe Ruropean love, “ity” means thelarge cities that border the arcof the Alps andthe “park isthe Alps. [fyou take Switzerland the Swiss Mitttiand (Cen- tral Regions) couldhe read asthe "ety" and the Alps and the Jura esa “park” One level deeper, major landscapeforms such as lakes, chains of hills, woods, ot cetera, serve as parks for the nearby metropolitan regions. And ‘then at city level we encounter the most familiar use ‘of the term park, the tm park or in the special ease of Davos, the Kurpark. What they all have ip common is ‘that they are used as parks and have an infrastructure ‘that allows ths, even where thsi “oly” in the form of ‘adense network of paths. Think the origin ofthis Knr- park vas the Idea that che ety-dvellers that come here couldn't be expected to simply enjoy the landscape. If youre staying ina hota in Davos you still need the ame- nitis ofa city: restaurants, shops, and, equally, a park. ‘Today the Kurpark works primarily at a neighborhood level: for people living nearby and for their children it provides a playground; and secondly it works at an over- all urban and global love. It isnot the same park fora ‘tourist from the USA as itis for someone from Davos. ‘And tourist from Zarich probably doesn't need « Kur~ ‘park at al. They come explicitly on account of the big “park,"not thesmall one, Initevertising Dove usustheclogan“Davea—where ite Bestia. in Gorman thie «pey on words ‘Davo ‘Dovos ech ic.7.Tmequastonis whether the town the landscape a meat here ‘The advertising certainly means the landscape but find the town af Davos while not exactly eastifal oor- ‘ain very interesting, For me it's Litto ike it is with ‘London, which may not be the world's most convention= ally prety city, but is certainly an extremely exciting one—a wonderful example of lived urbsnity. ven tough Davos offically cocribes as "Europe highest cy interme of language the people cf Davos dot seem tobe ontly conincod cf her urban donttytho name of ‘the munietpaltysLandschaft aos (Davos Landscape) and Inthe town itselyufnd it referred toonlyas Daves Doct (avos igs) and Davos Pat (Daves Square). Why oitwe speak af Devos a6? ‘Avalinguisticleve that is really very intresting. “Land: schaft” as the name of « political entity is something T'vehardly encountered anywhere else. Andthen torefer ‘to the town itself as “square” and “village” indicates a formal ambivalence in urban planning terms, with two contera. There ia also certain degree of ambivaloncein ‘ermsof content; depending on the season Davos can be perceived as a town or asa village. On the visual level— especially when looking down at Davos from above, as ‘we are doing now-—the frstthing you notice is theso Nat oot which, by definition signifvamederatown, “white rmodemism” a term that in winter, of course, ean be ‘understood literally. In terms of infrastructure. Davos fanetions very much lke a town, as we noted yesterday ‘evening when we arrived by train from Zurich. Wo got of in Davos Village. You immediately have the feeling {hat you are inthe country and need to calla taxi andin ‘act there isan ad fora taxon the station forecourt but nota single one insight, Then you notie the bus stop Dohind andwithin twominutes twenty-fiveother people ‘aro standing there, among thom intomationel tourists, ‘who kaow tht they have o take thebus. Then, when you discover that itis not just one or two stops to the hotel, fs you imagined, but in fact six you suddenly realize: you heve left one urban system and are now enteringanother. But the most impressive thing for mo was to 0e that Davos, at eset now in December, ha 8 strong {ving urbanity. When you stroll long the promenade in the evening it’ tike on Langstrasse in Zurich—not a red light district but a nightie, urbanity at its finest. And where else in the alpine region can you find arestaarant ‘ora eafé in which English is being spoken at every third table, and you ean also hear atleast five different Sas Aialects? To me this misture clearly demonstrates that Davos~at least fora short period—isa lived city ‘Sutthe fect that they have enya tmporay kind of ubanty la precionly where the problem of many ane towne is. ‘Yes, this temporary aspect is probably the major prob- Jem. During the summer and winter seasons, when _urbanity comes from outside, Davos functions extreme- Jy well az @ town, In the incbetwoen periods all that zromainsofthisurbanityisanimage,whichcan make the place seem almost like a ruin, as there Isa lack of Ive ‘urbanity, And this change occurs very abruptly, almost from one day to the next: when the season is overall the hotels close. Then many of the seasonal workers, ‘who make upalarge part ofthe urban deasityhere,leave ‘town, Inthe low season you can hardly find arestaurant ‘open—and the city suddenly becomes a village The deci- sive question in this context is certainly how might this tomporary aspest he changed? ‘The problem can Dhardly be solved with jut the usual threo playors atthe twble—I'm referring 10 agriculture, tourism, and trade. Probably @ fourth must be found and in fact Davos already has something of this fourth player inthe form ‘ofthe research institutes and the Convention Center ‘further fit issue the apne centers public space. Lookingst Davostoday waco that everythingizcovered by snow, which hasa beautifying effect, In summer, how- ‘ever, i becomes clear that lot of what We soe here is not really public space, but neglected private space. And formethe questionthatarisesis where toleolfor public pave, let alone where to find i We could, of course, simplify things and say: public space takes the classic orms that we know from traditional urban situations, ‘auch a the squares, the promenades, and the parks. We ‘also find all ofthese types in the alpine region. But here ‘the soles are completely distorted. ‘The public squares— where they exlet—are a lot omaller, and tho trots ‘and promenaées far more mono-functional. The parks, ‘the national parks, the UNESCO-biosphere reserves, ‘and the regional parks are far larger than in the cities ‘snd there are also dozons of them. And then there isthe ‘enormous andeape thats used equally by winter and summer tourism, That is, you can find the urban model ‘of urban open space here, to—but spread out across ‘the entire landscape. And the question about how such spaces function ifthe requisite social density is lacking {s, [beieve,of normousrelevance forthe alpine region— ‘also in connection with the digital revolution. When ‘you walk through these towns in the evening you see ‘the blue light of computer sereens everywhere and you ‘ask yourself whether the Internet will one day replace ppublie space. T would tond to doubt this, but wo will hhave to address questions like this inthe Future. There- fore at our chair at the ETH we have set up a research project that deals with this theme.\Wearehor party because studert inthe dosian cours of your prleesrehip at tha ETH aelaoting st Davos ti ores ter ost nd Tran, Davos lhe third messin ton Inthe Alp tebe used n the design cairo. ‘Wealways choose a territory nan alpine region beeause, atleast forthe Swiss students, the Alps always represent ‘kind of projection landscape inthe senso of « leisure landscape, But we have noticed that questions relating to architecture, urban design and the planning of open space alo arise here just ikein metropolitan situations ‘Therefore we think it important to choose the Alpine area ag a place for hstervention. Naturally, ths is also ‘an artful stratagem thet helps us to question our own naivety a bite, At first glance everything seems idylie: agriculture, tourism, itallscemslikeaperfectworld. But this is precisely the perfect world in whieh the students nave tointervons, Following our work in Aosta and Tiranothis semester we wanted to explicitly present an alpine town in Swit zerland for discussion. In searching for asuitable place sve referred tothe basie research work done by the ETH ‘Studio Rasel for the urban portrat of Switzerland. We came to realize that Davos was the only own in Switzer Jand that could be desertbed as an alpine town, tis not confronted with the problem or phenomenon of the shrinking town or the growinst areas of fallow land that we enooantered in Italy; Davos is still growing, Along: de the alpine contest what is so special about this sity is the mary different levels of scale found here: ‘the global, in the form of the World Economie Forum (WER), and the national with the institute for snow tnd avalanche research, Davos also has a cantonal and ‘regional importance for Canton Grisons san employer, long with the very local level of everyday life. To find allthese aspects combined in such an exciting way any: ‘where else Is dificult, not only in Switzerland but also {nthe ther alpine countries. Then thereisalso an event- fal and very specific history during which Davos has repeatedly been able to reinvent itself from a health spa which abruptly lost its importance through the ‘discovery of antibiotics toa location for international ‘sport tourism and, finally, to a global convention center ‘You could ofcourse, say thatthe problems in Davos are not acute. But if Davos is to prosper as atown and a des- {ination i will have to change, above all on account of the decline of winter tourism, This makes it very inter- esting forthe students to develop their own ideas for Davos. These can take the form of very specie local interventions that have todo with new ideas for tourism or for agriculture, or they can look at public space that does not exactly have an urban character ye, ‘ur vow of Devs has ban determines bythe snitch rom eal ‘tw ge cate: fom the garden inthe ereground tothe Alas ‘nthe background. Theta extrmesin arms of aa sso appear Inthe tee of your last two book Minature ond Ponerama* and oixonce# Exgugementtwhat sale you operate a 8 landscape aretect? Tove moving between different scales and, above all, Tithe to question the scale. In most projects tho seale ‘calready determined: that isto sa; the project bref is clearly structured to a greater or lesser extent. But the first design step taken in our office is always expanding the scale. For instance when we work on designing & 2specific park in London we always ask ourselves frst: {in what contoxt is this park located, what sits relation = ship to London as a whole to this tradition, to this cul- ture of open spaces? After widening the scale of our ‘observations in this way we ean then return tothe real ‘scale that we are asked! to deal with 1 find this kind of spptoach most important, particularly with regard to landscape architecture. But Thelieve that in urban plan- ‘ning and arehitecture itis also vital to remain avare ofthe largor context and tae bigger scale, to ask onesel: what cultural space does this relate to? I find question- ing « landscape or a place in this wey most exciting, ‘And I am alao convinced that constantly posing this ‘question about aele is the only ay to ereate truly sus- tainable projects Doss ur ofce do poets ranging across the ene spectrum, ‘tom theverysmallecle oho very args? Esseattally yes, but naturally this varies widely. Al- though as far asthe small scale is concerned we don't do ‘the classe job, which isto say we dont design private ‘gardens. I found this inezeasingly eiffielt because for re it is too private, i something that oan quickly ‘become very personal and this “tyranny of intimacy” to ‘borrow the apt expression coined by sociologist Richart ‘Senne, getstoo mush forme. Publie space interests me far more: work that has a public commitment and rele vance, But we certainly do have small projects, even very small ones much as at the moment with the artist Dan Graham on the roof terrace of the Metropolitan ‘Minseum of Art (Met) in New York +. InhisworkDan Graham slorays starts from his beckground, growingth fet pope to ‘icone’ the Ala if 909 ks, were the And Iam als convinced hat constant posing this question Ene shout sole inte on ways eee tray stainable projecActually there is nothing new about the idea af the Alps as @ ‘i ion sty kh ao ‘rain ir ring ne re ie ‘ein cbungunatat sar peta gos pong " *-lntbe context ofthelandsapo the rversiono wilderness, and ‘the encroachment to fret associated with from ing ‘solely Swissphenomenen."“Landscape ass vsoure is more reeant than ever lang ‘cpar ats Beng rete thst we can ao mgr as. up in New Jersey—that is, suburbia par excellence. Very ‘often his mirror pavilion projects refer to this suburban context and this was also what he wanted to do on the roof ofthe Met. In this very special situstion with the biggest and most famous city park inthe world, Central Park, in the middle ground and the skyline of New York Inthe backgroundthis was avery exciting commission, ‘What do you need to suggest a suburban situation on this roof? You need a hedge and a lawn; you need the specific paving found ina New Jersey suburb, And we had to prodace this in advance for this art intervention so the pavilion could stand ina suburban setting, This ‘works in the museum context becauseitis an exhibition pices, not to mention an exhibition garden, uprooted from » suburban contest and transferred to an exhibi- ‘ion situation in which every single element refers to ‘the desired topos, the suburban garden. That is almost ‘the smallest scale at which we work. ‘ad nati the argos ela? At the moment we have a project called Rectory Farm. Jn West London »p 2. There, too, we are working on ‘roof, you could say, but in this casei is the “roof” of| huge infrastructure landscape. Beneath the ground sravel for the production of eoncrote in the inner city of London willbe extracted for the next twenty-five to thirty years and parallel to this park is being ereated fn the “roof” bat ean be used while the extraction ‘work i still going on. The project refers to two different seales: on the one hand the green belt eround London ‘that Is very wide and girdles the entire urban ares, and on the other hand a neighborhood park ata Iocal scale.{In this way it fits into the series of historie parks thet ‘extends from the ity center to the outskirts ‘the notion efandscapeat global cale—even thought fen is cutie the scope of workor sperefinfvene of he landscape architet:an understanding and use of andecape a6 aneconeric resource, whether frist, ifastctre snaray.ormining. Were snlinghare fhe term operations zed landscapes as used by gvogrephe and ban theorist Neil Brnnec anf we wish tofoeusonthe protagonist ofthe osciptonofhunankid a a*goomorphie agent hich you tse in yourboo Detnce& Engagement, ‘Yos, that’s an even lergorseale, and one with which tho ‘worlds currently obsessed youloolat miningareasin South America, Africa, and Asia, this trend has reached fenormaus dimensions that we ean no longer eompre- hhend using a European seal: landscspesarebeing creat- fed that weean no longer gasp. Butthey are being created ‘by human beings. The erm “geomorphie agent” means ‘that today humankind shifts a greater volume of earth ‘than is moved by natural erosion, which is alresdy an ‘enormous volume, Tn the long ran we are eating new ‘earth, 50 9 speak. The same applies to large infrastruc- tye projects such as the planned Bosporus project in ‘Turkey. A second channel is to be ereated alongside the ‘Bosporus for the passage of large container ships. But ‘enormous new landscapes are also being created as the result of our noed for energy, for instance in Germany through the exploitation of wind energy of an even more extreme example, through fraeking in the USA. Land- seapeas.a resource is more relovant than ever 8. The xamples youcite at of course, based on avery mono limensioalundrstandingflndscape ae rescue. Inraton tothe andecapa the tr resource icf parcalar intrest when ti used not ony to efr to economicesplataton bt also Inoue an underetanding of landscape asa public resource. ‘hiarasee the question about what uescan be combines with each othor,much ike what youare dong. asmaller scale, Inthe Racor Farm pot tion combiner he eration ot pave th he prison of publ park-natraly ls within the esi fed that extends Between te concept of public ane private think the publi is still no fully aware that through our stood for raw matorials wo are destroying entire land- scapes and also leaving behind vast contaminated sites. ‘The poltical problem is that projects such as these racking landscapes inthe USA are more intensely dis- ‘eussedat local and regional level than at national level ‘Tho people directly affected, those living nearby, are the ‘ones who are most interested in the kindof landscape that i left bobind after extraction. Discussing ths at a zmeta-lovel is very difficult hut we need to do so because, ‘if viewed not only from a local perspective, these prai- ‘ects alfoct the ontre world. However, the elrcumatances ‘make it dificult to say how and whether we ean inter- vee in the ist place. 1f in comparison, you look atthe development of ecological agriculture with the organic label, then you note that this was actually initiated by a perceived consumer need. Acting together, the small ‘consumers can change the landscape. With raw materi als this isnot the ease, as we are dealing with an entirely diferent dimension. Here change can be effected only by big multi-national organizations that devote their‘energies to this problem. And this is one of the dificul- ‘tes when we start telking about landseapesin the inter- national sense; not even in tha European context can we manage to conduct a debate about content, as the discussion immedistely acquires « local component. Research is being done on this issue of operationalized landscapes but it finds little echo in the public discus- sion. And when a debate ie conducted then itis very ‘mono-dlmensional, along the lines of: “Mining: Yes or [No?" I think, however, that we need a more complex debate about what should happen to these Iandseapes after excavation is finished, And this diseussion should take into account the lange seale, not just in terms of| space but also in terms of time. What will become ofthese mining landseapes in thirty to fty years’ time? ‘What kind of landscape quality do we want? And als: iffwe can assume that in one inundzed years’ time the production of food will have moved to the laboratory, ‘what will happen to today’s agricultural land? If we discuss the landscape in torms of such uses we soon see that there are always multiple overlapping viows of and demands made on thelandseape. And inmy opinion ‘this calls fora more complex debate on public policy. cry “Open space is the city’s most important resource.” On the difficult relationship between the city and landscape A svolthvough Zurich, starting athe Burterosse on the loner basin of Lake Zune, with oview othe Alps. Alanathy promenade along the queye ram the Arboretum tothe Zaretnorn and then book tothe Bikiterrosee, flowed by tp the faloning ocatans: Frounbnsterplat Linder Borohoferase. and sosefiese, tn nn The gay pemsnade reunstelakeottrsone of no wore ‘most magnificent shore promenases, wth constantly charging. intoxicatinly beaut views acronstheake srt the fins ales ast aie he planting slongitsshores art Inthe sistance, fringe orzo, bhind mata greenery and woaded heights th ower’ amiing gaze captured the tie shin ofthe High lps” travel guide rom 100 lavished this fulsome praice onthe akechoe promenade, rankngit