West 8 - Portrait of Contemporary European Landscape Architecture

The landscape studio West 8 was founded in 1987 in Rotterdam by the Dutch landscape architect Adriaan Geuze. In the same year, Geuze completed his studies in landscape architecture at Wageningen University and was awarded his first significant prize - the Maaskant Prize for young architects. Over time, West 8 advanced into the field of top international architecture and grew into a thriving network of offices with four global branches and more than 70 employees. Every individual step forward was conditioned by partial successes. Winning the Prix de Rome competition in 1990 marked the gateway to the global stage for West 8. The establishment of a branch in New York was heralded by winning the competition for the 172-acre Governors Island Park; similarly, the won competition in Toronto provided the primary reason for establishing the Canadian branch, which was tasked with overseeing the implementation of the New Central Waterfront project. Currently, in addition to these three parts of the office, the West 8 studio is also active in Belgium.

Overall, the studio focuses on all disciplines of landscape architecture. The team includes architects, landscape architects, urban planners, ecologists, and engineers with various specializations. Therefore, it can be confidently stated that West 8 has a truly comprehensive scope and contributes validly to landscape projects of all scales, from ecological studies and urban and landscape concepts to designing individual parts of urban space and gardens. In this range of topics, West 8 often sets the direction of development. Since its inception, the studio has dealt with the issues of landscape across the entire Northern Hemisphere, and its direct influence can be seen, in addition to the Netherlands, in countries such as Denmark, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom, Russia, the USA, Canada, and China. In many cases, the contribution of their work has been recognized with prestigious titles, making West 8 a bearer of awards such as the Honor Award of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the International Urban Landscape Gold Award (IULA), and the Rosa Barba First European Landscape Prize, among others.

The studio claims to design in the spirit of two main - typically Dutch - ideas. The first idea primarily views the landscape as a utility whole, focusing on the proper arrangement of functional, transport, or ecological connections. The second idea concerns the landscape as an ethnic wealth with memory. Therefore, according to this principle, it is important to create symbols, cultural references, and simply an identity in the landscape with which locals can identify. This connection of two (not opposing) approaches results in valuable landscape modifications with their own expression and long-term perspective. Active landscape management, positioned above political disagreements and philosophical discussions, is, according to West 8, a reference to and the soul of Dutch culture. Their projects are characterized, among other things, by the use of striking lighting, metal structures, and sensitive work with colors.