19. Souvenirs…
Mother Earth: this is what we human beings affectionately call the planet on which we live. Mother Earth gives life, but she also takes it back in an eternal cycle. Humans depend on planet Earth. Without it we would not exist. Mother Earth provides all organisms with a home, food and protection as well as cultural and spiritual benefits. Millions of years ago, human beings lived in equilibrium with natural systems. In more recent times, what we call the Anthropocene, they have altered most of these systems, processes and even organisms. Memories and recollections of Mother Earth are profoundly inscribed on the human psyche and influence us in our everyday lives. Linking the planet Earth with the maternal concept of Mother Earth is proof of unconditional love, it places the ecosystems of a physical planet in a spiritual context as described by the most ancient civilisations. Here, an idealised and natural representation of Mother Earth is placed in opposition to an environment that has been seriously damaged.
DESIGNERS
Alexandra Von Bieler was born in 1968 in Northern Germany. She speaks German, English and French. After finishing school, she studied landscape architecture at the Osnabrück University for Applied Science. She started her career in 1995. Her professional emphasis lays on planting and artistic designs. In her first years as a landscape architect, she has focused her work on future user’s participation and on the design and construction of schoolyards and urban neighborhoods. She was involved in the planting design in collaboration with Buero TOPOS for the garden restoration project of the historical preservation of the Freundschaftsinsel (Isle of Friendship) for the Federal Garden Show in Potsdam 2001.She has also designed the signage system for the nature trail in the landscaped park Berlin – Adlershof. She developed a feasibility study for the Cistercian monastery at Zarrentin in cooperation with landscape architect Rosemarie Fisch. Over a couple of years, she worked on the design and implementation of the «Garden of Hippocrates» on the island of Kos in Greece. In 2003, she started her professional involvement in Saudi Arabia, becoming in 2013 an associate of Bödeker Landscape Architects (BPLA GmbH). She is also a Co-Author of the Manual of Arriyadh Plants.
Roberto Rao was born in 1977 in Sicily (Italy). He started studying architecture at the Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria where, in 2004, he graduated with honours. In 2005, he started a PhD on landscape architecture and was also teaching in four different courses related to conceptual landscape design. He completed his PhD, in 2008, and right after he moved to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) to work for a landscape consultant company, as design head director. Most of the projects included urban parks and leisure landscape designs. In 2011, the company opened another branch office in Muscat (Oman) and he was in charge of both offices. In 2014, he started his collaboration with Boedeker and Partners in Riyadh (KSA) as project supervisor for main urban design projects, to reinforce his knowledge in the field of urban landscape construction. During this period, he was also responsible for detail design for a specific large project. In 2015, he decided to return to Italy and try to bring the new skills acquired abroad to the European market. He started working as a landscape architect for both local and international projects, including landscape competition and creating his studio KWG. In 2018, he won an award for his design of Hilton Capomulini Landscape Design (Italy). In 2019 he won an award for his design of lagoon park Shati al Qrum (Oman).
Glenn MacGillivray was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1979. He started studying Landscape Technology at the Durban University of Technology in January 1998 and completed his course with Distinction, in December 2000. While studying, he joined a Durban based landscaping firm and remained employed with the company for the next 12 Years. He worked his way through the company structure and eventually was named the principal landscape designer. Throughout the years of service, the company grew from strength to strength with his guidance and attention to detail. The company was named Best Landscaping Company in South Africa several times in a row, along with many media articles and even television programs showcasing the works that he worked on. At the end of 2012, Glenn went on to start his own landscaping company Culture Design which had many successful design commissions, and several bespoke installations, which to this day remain to the topic of much discussion and admiration from the private clients that commissioned them. In 2017, the decision was made to diversify further, and the opportunity to join the team in Riyadh became available. This is currently where he is adding his skills to the Boedeker Team and the future is looking brighter every day.
Thomas Kreuder was born in 1970 in Bingen am Rhein (Germany). He has completed a vocational training as a machinist and a gardener and graduated in 2000 with a Dipl. Ing. Landscape Architecture degree. In 2000, he worked with an environmental protection authority in the Northern Sea in Cuxhaven. From 2001 to 2004 he worked in an architectural office in Bad Nauheim on large projects in the Frankfurt area such as the new building of the German weather service in Offenbach and the construction of the Galileo skyscraper of Dresdner Bank in Frankfurt. From 2005 to 2008, he worked as a vocational trainer in gardening and landscaping for disadvantaged people. In 2008, he became a member of the architect chamber of Rheinland Pfalz and founded his office Garden + open space the same year, which he is still operating today. His main area of expertise is project planning ranging from private gardens to outdoor facilities for kinder gardens to urban development projects. He is fully responsible for these projects, from the initial researches to the final billing. In 2017, he became a freelance member of Boedeker and Partners, for whom he worked on large infrastructure projects such as the Bus Rapid Transit project in Riyadh and currently Riyadh Township in cooperation with Albert Speer + Partners.
Philipp Robeck is an environmental consultant with a background in urban forest management. He has gained research experience through an MSc at the University of Ulster in invasive species population dynamics. In his early career, he worked as an arboricultural consultant in Germany, France and Australia. In addition to gathering experience in planning, tree management and protection he acquired and validated project management experience through the PMP certification. His passion for ecology and evolutionary biology along with the research at the University of Ulster and Melbourne directed him into the field of invasion biology in an applied and conceptual context. Parallel to studying climatic niches of naturalised plant species, he is consulting for various clients of the Boedeker Landscape architects since 2015. This includes pre-planning and impact studies of large-scale developments, masterplanning, data spatial analysis, and landscape maintenance planning and management. The sum of his experiences and qualifications make him a data savvy, environmental expert with project management skills.
Ludivine Baruton was born in 1977 in the south of France. After taking two university degrees, one in biology and one in plant physiology, she studied landscape architecture for four years at the French School of Landscape Design in Versailles, where in 2003 she gained her postgraduate diploma in landscaping with honours. From 2003 to 2010 she honed her innovative design and technical skills, developing a deep understanding of plants while working on large projects for well-known landscaping companies based in Berlin and London. This experience, along with a need to develop her own designs to directly improve people’s well-being, led her to create Blacksheepscape Studio in London in 2011. In 2014 she started a collaboration with Boedeker and Partners in Saudi Arabia, with whom she worked on projects including the main park in the city of Riyadh. In 2015, while continuing to pursue international projects, she moved to Marrakesh in Morocco. There she created Studio Falaj in response to a real need for the town and its inhabitants to be able to benefit from the expertise of qualified professionals in creating beautiful gardens. Since 2017 she has worked on public and private projects in Saudi Arabia, Germany and France, to where she has now moved her studio.
