Landscape Architecture

Man and nature. Friends or foes?

Comparison between PRES Constitucin Project (Elemental) and Tour & Taxis Project (Bas
Smets Bureau)

Muresan Anca-Maria
Erasmus exchange student, Romania
Coordinator: Viviana dAuria

Title

PRES Constitucin

Tour & Taxis Park

Architects/landscape architects

Elemental, in collaboration with:

Tironi, Arup, Fundacin Chile,
Marketek, Universidad de Talca
Constitucin, Chile
2010 (ongoing, in execution)
Ministry of Housing and Urban
Development
Municipality of Constitucin
Arauco

Bas Smets Bureau

Location
Year
Client

Brussels, Belgium
2012-2017 (in construction)
Projet T&T

Introduction
In this ever-changing world, we tend to panic too often. When a river floods the area around, we like to
build walls. When things have physically changed in our environment, we tend to become melancholic
and dream of returning to that moment in time. But the two projects this paper observes tell a
different story. Their designers (Elemental for Pres Constitucin and Bas Smets Bureau for Tour&Taxis)
show their concern for working with nature, not against it, deeply understanding its processes and
systems.
The first one, set in Constitucin, Chile, is a forest designed along the river in the more complex plan of
sustainable reconstruction after the 2010 earthquake that was followed by a tsunami, aimed to protect
the city from different natural challenges (future tsunamis, flooding), while the second one is a park of
12 ha, part of a 45 ha industrial site transformed into a mixed neighbourhood. In these projects, four of
the principles that shine through are their contextualism and their taking into account that landscape
has its own program regardless of the ones we assign to it, is unpredictable and often public.1

The Context
Because landscape is immense and it does not care about ownership boundaries, one must try, with
each project2, to make it fit into its greater surrounds. For PRES Constitucin, the first challenge was to
find a way to protect the city from other natural disasters. So they drew their solution by looking around
them, on a forested island that has naturally withstood the force of water not by stopping it, but by
reducing its strength with friction (fig.2).
As Bruno de Meulder talks about in his lectures3, a paradigm shift is taking place in the contemporary
urbanism regarding the new systems, that they should be more natural/seminatural, less obtrusive,
having the capacity to recuperate themselves, thus less expensive. This more cyclical way of thinking is a
result of the recent ecological crisis, with nature taking revenge. It has to do with our attitude towards
1

As taken from Sue Anne Wares 9 principles taught during 2014 guest lectures at KU Leuven, 13.10.2014.
Sue Anne Wares lectures on landscape architecture at KU Leuven, 13-15.10.2014
3
Bruno de Meulders lecture on Theory and Practice of Urbanism since 1945, 31.10.2014
2

the problems in the old-fashioned way of the man the centre of the world, now changing into the man
a part of the nature.
The same principle is applied in the Bas
Smets project, in the big picture of Brusselss
landscape structure, a capillary hydrography
based not on the main river, but on its
ramifications4.
Making
research
by
developing different abstract maps that help
them look at the world differently element
by element and system by system, they
discovered that 80% of the green space is
based on the flood plan of these tributary
rivers (fig.1). So they used this information to
build a strategy based on the interrelation
between topography, hydrography and
vegetation. Instead of trying to bring back
what is already lost (the main river that now
is not even recognizable by the vegetation
along it), the bureau took a more
Figure 1. Tributary rivers www.bassmets.be

contemporary stand, envisioning the development of 8 tributary rivers for 19 municipalities.5

For the public
Those were their surroundings. But what
about their social, political, fiscal,
environmental or cultural background? Is it
enough to blend the project in its physical
context? The world we live in is much more
complex than that and the Elemental project
has proven it by activating the civil society of
the town. Instead of a top-down approach,
the studio proves to be bold enough to go
for a participatory design, but, as Alejandro
Aravena reveals, this is not about
brainstorming for solutions, but more
importantly about getting to the right Figure 2. PRES Constitucion plan view. www.elementalchile.cl
question.6 After entering a democratic
process of debate and prioritizing the problems, they found out that, even more disturbing than a
4

Bas Smetss lecture at Harvard Land vs. Landscape

Landvslandscape
6
Alejandro Aravenas interview on ArchDaily
5

potential future tsunami, was the flooding occurring each winter because of the inadequate drainage
system, along with the lack of public space, disconnection between the city and the river, etc.7 Of
course, it was challenging. We should only think about what these people had been through prior the
meetings and how much they were filled both with despair and hope for a better future. So giving them
the power to decide, to exert pressure on the authorities, was definitely a big plus.

The same process could not have been integrated into Bas
Smetss project, as the whole development was new and it
didnt have a community to go to, but it did make use of
the environmental issues of the area in order to come up
with a better solution. The idea of it had its concept hidden
in arts in the landscape paintings8 that showed gentle
slopes embracing the public space where some lovers or
some group of people had a picnic (as Bas Smets always
returns to those painters claiming that, like them, he is only
unveiling the unseen reality9 - fig.3,4). It is also drawn from
an easy principle of drainage: have the water gather in a
valley, in opposition to the existing structure of flattened
land for industrial purposes. A positive side effect of this
retrieved landscape was the possibility to create an
underground reservoir (fig.4) that would convince the developers to invest extra money in the park (as
they were initially given only 25/m2).
Figure 3. Conceptual axonometry Tour&Taxis,
www.bassmets.be

All these show responsibility. Whether its social,

environmental or fiscal, designers have a responsibility
towards their design, but also towards the nature and the
society. A project is not just something pretty that they
come up with; it is something precise that has an impact
way beyond its visual characteristics and its boundaries.
Own program and unpredictability
Going back to our previous thoughts on the Brussels
project, it can be also considered as pursuing other two of
landscape architectures principles the fact that it has
its own program and that is unpredictable. The swamp
Figure 4. Tour & Taxis Park, Bas Smets,
like terrain in the project would have been a constant
www.bassmets.be
threat to the accessibility of the park, so adjusting the terrain to its old curvy forms is a reverence made
7

Elemental explanatory video

Bas Smetss lecture on Landscape Architecture at KU Leuven, 7.11.2014
9
Bas Smetss TedX talk in Ghent
8

to the ambition and program of the landscape. As said before, unveiling the unseen is a way to properly
give nature the attention it deserves. At the same time, the underground reservoir should serve as an
acceptance of its unpredictability, for it is preparing for flooding.
The same concern can be found if we go back to Chile, although at a much bigger scale. That the
landscape had its own program was proven in 2010, when 80% of the Constitucin was destroyed. The
same
goes
for

Figure 5. Section through the shore, PRES Constitucin, Elemental Zumtobel Group Award booklet

its unpredictability. So the project had to bring something new,

something that would show resilience to multiple kinds of
environmental disasters.10 Using geographical answers to
geographical threats (fig.5), based both on empirical evidence (as
shown above) and on mathematical models/laboratory tests11, the
project successfully takes into account both the previous Figure 9. PRES Constitucin
www.elementalchile.cl

catastrophe and the flooding (solved by laminating the rain water)

that year by year terrorized the inhabitants. The other options for
the shore of the river were the prohibition of the reconstruction in
the affected areas, unrealistic on a long term and also irresponsible, Figure 8. PRES Constitucin
www.elementalchile.cl
leading to fishermen building informal settlements or a heavy
infrastructure in form of a monstrous wall towards the river that
would have to resist a displaced mass of water moving at 800km/h,
using a huge amount of public money (financial awareness) spent on
a solution that has proved useless in Japan. Instead, after a Figure 7. PRES Constitucin
www.elementalchile.cl

democratic voting procedure chose the expropriation of private land

as the better solution, the historical debt in terms of public space
(from 2 to 7 m2/inhabitant) was also solved12, in favor of the public
(fig.6-9).
Figure 6. PRES Constitucin
www.elementalchile.cl

10

Aedes (editors) - Zumtobel Group Award 2014, 2014, Aedes, page 58-59
Aedes (editors) - Zumtobel Group Award 2014, 2014, Aedes, page 58-59
12
Elemental explanatory video
11

By contrast, the project in Brussels focuses more on the details of

the landscape itself (fig.10-11). As we learn from Andrew Revkin,
Ian McHarg13, a leading figure in designing with nature, was an
early advocate of restricting plantings to native species, both for
philosophical reasons and because introducing a foreign species
can sometimes disrupt the ecology of an area.14 Following the
same idea, Bas Smets did research on the evolution of the
Figure 10. Tour & Taxis Park PRES
Constitucin www.bassmets.be

vegetation in time, the flowering and the uses of the park, using
slower growing big trees (willows) and fast growing small trees,
thus helping the water and air circulation. Moreover, the
vegetation was implemented in the project according to the
image of the valley (reaffirmed as a landscape structure in the
Brussels urban tissue by the same studio) while integrating
sequences of the industrial patrimony15, one of the layers of the
palimpsest that is the site, proof that the bureau is not trying to
deny its past, but to improve it.

But after going head to head with the projects, one might
question the PRES Constitucin projects label of a landscape
Figure 12. Tour & Taxis Park
architecture one. Its winning of the Zumtobel Group Award for
www.bassmets.be
Urban Development and Initiatives could be a setback from
proving it, but the way this part has integrated so well natural elements in both a protective and a
sensitive to nature approach, showing clear attention to details
obviously integrates the project under the professions
mantra: achieving a balance between the built and natural
environments. 16 (especially if we consider the safety paths
designed with lighting based on solar power so it would work
even in the case of a blackout fig.12) Moreover, the line
between landscape architecture and urban planning gets Figure 11. PRES Constitucin
thinner, as Chris Reed boldly stated in his lecture that planners www.elementalchile.cl
become larger complex teams led by landscape architects.17

13

His ideas, summarized in his own words on the paperback of his book Design with Nature, the 1995 edition: Our eyes do
not divide us from the world, but unite us with it. Let this be known to be true. Let us then abandon the simplicity of separation
and give unity its due. Let us abandon the self mutilation which has been our way and give expression to the potential harmony
of man-nature. The world is abundant, we require only a deference born of understanding to fulfill man's promise. Man is that
uniquely conscious creature who can perceive and express. He must become the steward of the biosphere. To do this he must
design with nature.
14
Revkin, Andrew C - Ian McHarg, 80, Architect Who Valued a Site's Natural Features, New York Times, Late Edition (East
Coast) [New York, N.Y] 12 Mar 2001: B.6
15
Cycle des conferences Paysages
16
American Society of Landscape Architecture about Landscape Architecture
17
Chris Reeds Lecture on Landscape Architecture at KU Leuven, 12.11.2014

Conclusion
As some final thoughts arise, we can say that the two projects are consistently rich in their endeavor,
being contextual both in the physical sense and in the environmental, social, financial senses, bringing
innovation to the table. One introducing a new Anti Tsunami Urban DNA, the idea of protecting nature
with nature and one fulfilling its mission by firstly zooming out and seeing what the broad context of
landscape in Brussels is. In the former project, pragmatism had to prevail, though we can still find poetry
in the images showing the bond between people and nature as it is supposed to be, whereas in the BSB
project, as in most of their projects, poetry is transpired both through the discourse of its coordinator
and through the imagery. Their abstract quality (of the conceptual images) underlines the desire to find
landscape quality through a research-driven working process.18
Most importantly, both projects inscribe themselves in a line continuously drawn by other big names as
well, like Manuel de Sol Morales, with his words on public space: Common spaces are what
constitute the wealth of the cities of the past and they will undoubtedly also be the principal structure
of the cities of the future.19 Or like Shigeru Ban with his world-renowned concern for the
underprivileged, saying that there are no longer natural disasters, but man-made disasters. For
example, an earthquake doesnt kill people, but the collapse of a building kills people.20, he concludes.
If we were to extrapolate, we would find ourselves blaming mankind for not being considerate enough
to everything that surrounds it.

18

Holbrook, Tom Bas Smets, London Festival of Architecture, BD Online, 09.07.2014

De Sol-Morales, Manuel Public Spaces, Collective Spaces, Urbanismo Revista, Barcelona, 1992, page 184
20
Shigeru Bans interview on ArchDaily
19

Bibliography

Aedes (editors) - Zumtobel Group Award 2014, 2014, Aedes, http://www.zumtobel-groupaward.com/download/ZTA2014-140911_FIN.pdf

Alejandro Aravenas interview on ArchDaily - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSXPR0MihSE
American
Society
of
Landscape
Architecture
about
Landscape
Architecture,
http://www.asla.org/yourpath/docs/WhatISLA.pdf
Bas Smetss lecture at Harvard Land vs. Landscape, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSXPR0MihSE
Bas Smetss lecture on Landscape Architecture at KU Leuven, 7.11.2014
Bas Smetss TedX talk in Ghent - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhAbc0J_aWQ
Bruno de Meulders lecture on Theory and Practice of Urbanism since 1945, 31.10.2014
Chris Reeds Lecture on Landscape Architecture at KU Leuven, 12.11.2014
Cycle des conferences Paysages, http://www.pavillon-arsenal.com/img/conference/274/cp/PAV_274_CP.pdf
De Sol-Morales, Manuel Public Spaces, Collective Spaces, Urbanismo Revista, Barcelona, 1992
Elemental explanatory video on - http://www.elementalchile.cl/en/proyecto/pres-constitucion-3/
Holbrook, Tom Bas Smets, London Festival of Architecture, BD Online, 09.07.2014
Revkin, Andrew C - Ian McHarg, 80, Architect Who Valued a Site's Natural Features, New York Times, Late Edition
(East Coast) [New York, N.Y] 12 Mar 2001: B.6.
Shigeru Bans interview on ArchDaily - http://www.archdaily.com/583088/archiculture-interviews-shigeru-ban/
Sue Anne Wares lectures on landscape architecture at KU Leuven, 13-15.10.2014