Peter Latz (born 1939) is a German

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

and a professor for

landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

at the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

. He is best known for his emphasis on reclamation and conversion of former industrialized landscapes. Retired today, he was an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and was also a visiting professor at the

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urba ...

. Latz once noted in a foreword for the book Visionary Gardens by Ernst Cramer that the overall of landscape architecture could be applied in abstract rules. "The beauty of nature lies within the essence and effect of plants and materials."

Early life and education

Peter Latz was born in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

and grew up in the

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...

as the son of Heinrich Latz, a German architect. After graduating from high-school he studied landscape architecture at the

Technical University An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, and after taking his diploma in 1964, he joined the four year post-graduate education in

town planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

at the Institute of Urban Development and Regional Planning at the

RWTH Aachen RWTH Aachen University (), in German ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen'', is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study prog ...

Career

Peter Latz and his wife, Anneliese, founded their landscape architecture office in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

and in 1968 in

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

under the name Latz + Partner. Another firm for

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

, system planning and

landscape planning Landscape planning is a branch of landscape architecture. According to Erv Zube (1931–2002) landscape planning is defined as an activity concerned with developing landscaping amongst competing land uses while protecting natural processes and ...

was set up and run between 1970 and 1976 in cooperation with fellow architect Conny Schmitz. Latz continues to practice landscape architecture and town planning, working with groups of architects, sociologists, and economists. Latz started teaching in 1968 as a lecturer at the Limburgse Akademie voor Bouwkunst ( Limburg Academy of Architecture) in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

. He became a full-time professor for landscape architecture at the Gesamthochschule Kassel in 1973 and was appointed as a professor at the Landscape Architecture and Landscape Planning Department at the Technical University of Munich in 1983 where he retired in 2008. Among his best known projects is the

Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord Landschaftspark is a public park located in Duisburg-Meiderich, Germany. It was designed in 1991 by Latz + Partner ( Peter Latz), with the intention that it work to heal and understand the industrial past, rather than trying to reject it. The ...

in the

Ruhr region The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populatio ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The site of 230 hectares was formerly a very large

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

. When it became derelict, Latz + Partner, the firm was commissioned to design the park after winning an international design competition with the master plan for the whole site in 1991. They decided to keep the main structures and to incorporate them into a postmodern landscape design. A series of gardens were planted within and around the ruins with the use of the traditional horticulture. Clipped

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced (3 feet or closer) shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate ...

knot garden A knot garden is a garden style that was popularized in 16th century England and is now considered an element of the formal English garden. A knot garden consists of a variety of aromatic and culinary herbs, or low hedges such as box, planted in ...

parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, plats, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the ...

bosquet In the French formal garden, a ''bosquet'' (French, from Italian ''boschetto'', "grove, wood") is a formal plantation of trees in a wide variety of forms, some open at the bottom and others not. At a minimum a bosquet can be five trees of identi ...

s and

rose garden A rose garden or rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses, and sometimes rose species. Designs vary tremendously and roses may be displayed alongside other plants or grouped ...

s had created a juxtaposition between this

formal garden A formal garden is a garden with a clear structure, geometric shapes and in most cases a symmetrical layout. Its origin goes back to the gardens which are located in the desert areas of Western Asia and are protected by walls. The style of a form ...

that is situated within a

post-industrial In sociology, the post-industrial society is the stage of society's development when the service sector generates more wealth than the manufacturing sector of the economy. The term was originated by Alain Touraine and is closely related t ...

site. Duisburg-Nord was a successful landscape garden because Latz had altered the relationship that humans had with the existing site. Because of this project Peter Latz is considered to be, along with American landscape architect Richard Haag, one of the international pioneers for the reclamation and conversion of former industrialized landscapes. The philosophy of his Latz + Partner firm focuses not only on quality but also on the technical competence and the know-how. Since the 1980s, the firm begins to gear towards the metamorphosis of postindustrial sites.

Awards

*2014 Friedrich-Ludwig-von-Sckell-Ring awarded by The Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts *2013 TOPOS Landscape Award – The International Review of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design honours Peter Latz „for his internationally recognised life's work“ *2010 Green Good Design Award for being “a leader, pioneer, and innovator in Green Design” *2005 Place Planning Award of the

Environmental Design Research Association The Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) is an international, interdisciplinary organization founded in 1968 by design professionals, social scientists, students, educators, and facility managers. Purpose The purpose of EDRA is the adv ...

(EDRA) in Edmond, USA *2001 Grande Médaille d’Urbanisme by the Académie royale d’architecture in Paris *2000 First European Prize for Landscape Architecture Rosa Barba in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

for the design of Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord

Projects

Selected projects, chronologically. *University of Marburg on Lahnberge, Germany (1976–1980) *University Hospital Marburg on Lahnberge (1976–1985) * :de:Bürgerpark Hafeninsel,

(1980–1989) *BUGA ( :de:Bundesgartenschau, the German national garden show): BUGA Berlin 1985, 5 gardens for the "Green Houses" in Berlin – Britz (1981–1985) *Technical University of Munich, Institute for Landscape and Botany (1986–1988) *Science City Ulm on the Eselsberg, University Section West (1988-2001) *European Town

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, Plateau de Kirchberg (since 1990) *Greenbelt Frankfurt,

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

(1990–1992) *

(1990–2001) *Atelier "Latz + Partner", house and garden in Ampertshausen near Kranzberg (1991 until today) *Pedestrian zone in

Melsungen Melsungen () is a small climatic spa town in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany. In 1987, the town hosted the 27th ''Hessentag'' state festival. Geography Melsungen lies on the river Fulda in the North Hesse Highlands. The strea ...

(1996) *

Granta Park Granta Park is a science, technology and biopharmaceutical park based on the bank of the Granta (river), River Granta in The Abingtons, Cambridgeshire, Great Abington near Cambridge, England. The idea for the park came from the chief executiv ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, UK (1997) *Jardin de brume, Festival International des Jardins, Chaumont-sur-Loire, France (1998) *

Environmental remediation Environmental remediation is the cleanup of hazardous substances dealing with the removal, treatment and containment of pollution or contaminants from Natural environment, environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment. Remediation may be ...

of the Hiriya Landfill and creation of the Ariel Sharon Park,

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, Israel (since 2004) *Parco Dora,

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, Italy (2004-2012) *Peter Latz Mastergarden,

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China (2012-2013)

Literature

* Technische Universität München, Chair for Landscape Architecture and Industrial Landscape LAI (Ed.): ''Learning from Duisburg Nord.'' München 2009, * Weilacher, Udo (2008). ''Syntax of Landscape. The Landscape Architecture by Peter Latz and Partners.'' Basel Berlin Boston: Birkhauser Publisher. *Peter Latz: ''The metamorphosis of an industrial site.'' in: Niall Kirkwood (Ed.): ''Manufactured Sites'' London/New York 2001 * Cramer, Ernst. Visionary Gardens: Modern Landscapes (Berlin: Birkauser) 9-11. * Latz, Peter. The Matamorphosis of an Industrial Site in: Niall Kirkwood (Ed.):Manufactured Sites: Re-thinkining the Post-Industrial Landscape.(London: Spoon Press, 2001). * Rosenberg, Elissa. (Ed.)Sanda Iliescu. The hand and the soul: aesthetics and ethics in architecture and art (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009). * Turner, Tom. Garden History: Philosophy and Design 2000 BC-2000 AD (New York: Spoon Press, 2005) 273-275. * Weilacher, Udo. Syntax of Landscape. The Landscape Architecture by Peter Latz and Partners. (Basel Berlin Boston: Birkhauser Publisher). * "Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord, Duisburg, Germany". Design Observer. 2 December 2010.http://www.designobserver.com/media/pedf/Landschaftspar_405.pdf

References

*
Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord

External links

Latz + Partner homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Latz, Peter 1939 births Living people Technical University of Munich alumni Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich Harvard University staff University of Pennsylvania faculty German landscape architects