SLA Project Review

 

SLA: Grønningen-Bispeparken

Having followed and admired the work of SLA for some time, they were an obvious first choice for me when it came to practice and project reviews. The practice is a nature-based design studio, which designs for nature, with nature, as their primary goal. I feel that this is genuinely reflected within their projects - and they are all (in my eyes) beautiful, innovative, successful places.

The project I focused on is Grønningen-Bispeparken in Copenhagen, Denmark. This project transforms 20,000m2 of unused lawn into an attractive, biodiverse nature park. What enticed me to this project, beyond its naturalistic planting and aesthetic material palette, was its attitudes towards nature. The park is built around the principle of embracing rain; it features 18 "social swales" (instead of bioswales), that act as nodes to facilitate social gatherings and activities, both when dry and when holding water. 

I think these attitudes towards embracing weather, by creating features that celebrate, rather than cope with them, are fundamental to the sustainable future of landscape architecture and the wider field. With extreme weather on the rise, it is inevitable that this is going to have an impact on our environment. By inviting the elements into our design schemes, we are future-proofing them for the inevitable. I think this project marks real innovation in landscape architecture thinking and is a call for an attitude shift within the sector. 

Project page found at: https://www.sla.dk/cases/gronningen/