Planting greenery. Collecting rainwater. Unsealing surfaces. Fostering biodiversity. Cooling urban spaces. All of this is more than necessary. But it’s not enough! We need to create atmospheres — unique, unexpected, and intense. That’s what this project is trying to do: to evoke more feelings.
The courtyard of the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden is undergoing a transformation. The anthracite stone disappears. The two levels, one on the roof of the depot of the museum and the other connected to the ground, are reimagined as a sun-deck and an artificial thicket.
These two spatial atmospheres collide and confront one another. And in their clash, they tell the story of the museum. Because hygiene and health, at its core, is about how space affects the human body — making it an important part of landscape architecture!
How can landscape in this courtyard enter into dialogue with the buildings scale and monumentality? The answer: not through pleasant, decorative planting, but through space shaped by vegetation — bold and powerful.
We conducted extensive studies of thickets to better understand their spatial and ecological qualities. In close exchange with experts, we explored how the characteristic growth habits of our plants could intertwine to create archetypal thicket spaces. A tremendous amount of work went into the planting design — and ultimately, a significant portion of the budget was dedicated to the plants themselves. Less building, more planting!
Complementing this, the sculptural work Pathfinder, embedded within the thicket, expands the program of the courtyard. It acts as an invitation — almost a provocation — towards appropriation, exploration, and movement. These spaces are meant to affect us emotionally as well as physically. Even the accessible circular pathway includes narrow passages where branches brush against the skin of every visitor. This is not merely a pleasant side effect or decorative gesture — it is essential. A celebration of the joy of being in the world.
Around 10,000 perennials and an additional 10,000 flower bulbs were planted within the green roof substrate. Owing to the distinct light conditions across the site, each of the two roof areas supports its own specific palette of species.
The 1,500 m² lower courtyard was kept as permeable as possible. Across roughly 1,000 m² of planting area, around 850 shrubs and trees were arranged in dense formations to create a layered, immersive vegetation structure. The planting concept draws primarily from species typically found along the edges of dry woodlands, including wild fruit varieties such as cornelian cherry, alongside field maple, dogwood, and service tree. At the same time, the thicket subtly reveals its constructed and artificial character through the occasional appearance of more traditional ornamental garden shrubs, such as velvet hydrangea, emerging unexpectedly from within the dense vegetation.
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