Tendencies towards individualisation, extreme weather events, digitalisation and privatisation processes present significant challenges for contemporary open space planning. At the same time, large parts of today's European urban landscapes are characterised by undemanding spaced greenery, uniformity of design and a lack of social public space. The Danish landscape architect C. Th. Sørensen sketched and realised alternative design concepts as early as the mid-20th century, whose relevance against this background extends to the present day, making him a landscape architectural icon figure of modern landscape architecture.

Using the simple yet effective tool of variation studies, Sørensen developed the 39 garden plans in the 1960s. With these, he offered a means to imagine and materialise gardens as needs-based open spaces, which simultaneously became atmospherically experiential places in an artistic form of expression. Survey-like excerpts from Sørensen’s extensive body of work, along with design-strategy annotations by Günther Vogt, enrich the newly reissued garden plans. Particularly in times of increasing separation between privacy and the public sphere, they encourage engagement with the open space typology of the (urban) garden – extending beyond the private realm.

Author: C. Th. Sørensen

Edited by Jonathan Stimpfle

With annotation by Günther Vogt

Design: Integral Lars Müller

6 ½ × 9 ½ in

ca. 128 pages, ca. 48 illustrations

paperback

2024, 978-3-03778-745-8, German

Lars Müller Publishers, 2024