University of Greenwich Wins at the Barcelona International Landscape Architecture Biennial

The University of Greenwich in London, whose student works included the work of Estonian landscape architect Hannes Aava, received an award at the 13th Barcelona International Landscape Architecture Biennial. 

The Barcelona Landscape Architecture Biennial which took place in 17-21 Nov, has become the most important event of its kind in Europe, visited by professionals from all over the world. Juries consisting of top experts in the field recognize the best projects and universities of the past two years, and a five-day symposium analyzes the current state of the field.

The main theme of this year's biennial was "Natural Intelligence!?", which discussed knowledge and wisdom at a time when, driven by the climate crisis, spatial creation requires new ways of acting and thinking. There was also much discussion about the problems of artificial intelligence and human knowledge: is humanity’s culturally limited understanding of intelligence the root cause of the crisis?

Manuel Ribas Piera School Prize

The Manuel Ribas Piera University Prize was awarded to the University of Greenwich, London, whose landscape architecture lecturer Ed Wall submitted five projects selected from more than 20 master’s students’ works to the biennale, including Hannes Aava’s. The university captivated the juries with its multifaceted and comprehensive approach to teaching landscape architecture, which includes combining digital and craft skills and material experiments.

Hannes Aava’s studio works “Mud | Protection: Negotiated Sediment” and “Shinglecrete Pier” deal with the relationship between man and nature in two sensitive landscapes, using materials derived from local resources to rethink the relationship between the human community and its immediate environment. Aava, the first Estonian to receive a prize at the Biennale, is a visiting lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts, a member of the Estonian Association of Landscape Architects and works in the field with her studio Mida Hekki.

Several other top institutions in the field were nominated for the University Prize, including ETH Zurich, Cornell and Virginia universities from the USA, and the Milan Polytechnic Institute. The jury included Gary Hildebrand, Hayriye Eşbah Tunçay, Luis Callejas, Huang Wenjing and Eulàlia Gómez.

The prize is named after the Catalan landscape architect Manuel Ribas Piera (1925-2013), who was a doctor of architecture at ETSAB and the founder of the master's degree in landscape architecture at the Department of Urban Planning and Urban Development at the Polytechnic University of Barcelona UPC.

Grand Prize and IFLA Award

 The grand prize of the biennial, the Rosa Barba Award, was awarded to the Grønningen-Bispeparken project by the Danish office SLA, which stood out for its stormwater solutions and comprehensive community engagement program.

 The IFLA Award from the International Federation of Landscape Architects went to a park project by the office Turenscape, founded by the recently deceased wetland design pioneer Kongjian Wu, which restored a flood-protected wetland in the Chinese city of Xi’an.