Abstract

Who speaks for the landscape? It has no voice, yet it communicates. It is not represented, yet it has silent interests. The multitude of spatial claims on the landscape makes the tension between these interests and functional and/or economic demands often painfully clear. We discuss how our architectural practice advocates for the interests of the landscape. Instead of treating it as a bare substrate that we can manipulate, we treat it as a dynamic and integral life support system that is required for our common future existence. The landscape is an active, open, and systemic totality composed of interacting abiotic, biotic, and anthropogenic systems. By understanding the interactions of these systems and dynamically linking their features, we create “landscape frameworks” in which we make the landscape qualities and identities speak for themselves. When we have grasped with sufficient clarity what the landscape tells us, we advocate for it, providing roadmaps to address upcoming transitions like sustainable agriculture, climate adaptation, the energy transition and space claims for of various economic domains.