03.02.2025

Artificial intelligence in landscape architecture

Building design

Artificial intelligence in landscape architecture: AI optimizes sustainable and aesthetic designs through data-based analyses and automated designs. Photo: Unsplash

Chat GPT & Co. have quickly become an integral part of many people’s everyday lives. Artificial intelligence also has a number of potential applications in landscape architecture. However, it is still rarely used – read more about this here.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, aims to imitate human intelligence. It uses existing data and simultaneously generates new data to imitate cognitive abilities. Accordingly, AI is used, for example, for writing texts and social media posts, for translations and for creating tables with complex data sets.

In landscape architecture, the tool offers potential in the areas of design, data analysis, modeling, smart irrigation, maintenance and user experience. For example, BIM models can be optimized through the AI-supported analysis of climate, soil and solar radiation data. The AI can create different designs within a short period of time, which helps to make a creative decision.

AI in landscape architecture is still in its infancy in Germany, but there are already promising possibilities. Landscape architects have a wide range of tools that they can integrate into their work. This can bring benefits such as improved design processes, sustainable solutions and increased efficiency.

The following possibilities for the use of AI in landscape architecture are already conceivable:

–Design optimization: using tools such as DreamzAR, RescapeAI and Neighborbrite, AI can generate and simultaneously evaluate different design options. Renderings can also be optimized.

–Data analysis: Even large amounts of data, for example from a city or municipality, can be analyzed with AI, which helps with decision-making around environmental conditions or usage analyses, for example.

–Automation of routine tasks: Recurring tasks that are relatively simple can be automated using AI, saving time and resources and reducing errors. This includes tasks such as creating planting plans and calculating areas.

–Optimizing water management: Using AI-powered algorithms, landscape architecture firms can analyze rainfall, soil conditions and topography to optimize stormwater management.

–Maintenance and care: AI can predict which plants will grow and flower when, which are most likely to survive and which are best suited to certain conditions. This improves the maintenance of gardens and parks.

–User experience: AI is also helpful for interacting with the public and in participatory processes. For example, the technology can be used to change, adapt and visualize design elements.

So far, it is mainly city administrations that are experimenting with the use of AI in landscape architecture and sharing their experiences. In Singapore, for example, algorithms are being used to help with greening in the densely populated city state. For example, Singapore has optimized the design of vertical gardens and green walls by using AI to analyze which locations provide the best conditions in terms of sunlight, water availability and plant compatibility. In addition, AI-supported systems accompany hydroponic cultivation areas to optimize their yield and use resources efficiently.

In New York City, where extreme weather events such as heat waves, flooding and coastal erosion are among the challenges, AI is helping to analyze urban heat islands. This allows the city administration to quickly identify where green infrastructure is best placed to cool the city and improve air quality at the same time. AI models in New York can also predict sea level rise and flooding, helping to create resilient coastal parks and wetlands that protect the city.

And in Tokyo, environmental sensors are widespread in the parks, helping to keep an eye on plant health and intelligently plan irrigation. It is even possible to analyze biodiversity to identify exactly which ecosystems should be protected in which areas of the parks.

According to Competitionline, more than half of architecture firms in Germany already use artificial intelligence, although many others are still hesitant. The latest tools are particularly popular for text and image processing.

As with all new technologies, there are also reservations about AI. At a conference of the Landscape University Conference in 2024, Professor Olaf Gerhard Schroth from Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences explained how satellite image analysis could succeed with the help of AI and how deep learning can also be used for landscape architecture.

Schroth has achieved good and in some cases convincing results in the visualization of planting plans and the development of landscape images. At the same time, he raised critical aspects of AI, such as “hallucinations”, unclear copyrights and the creation of stereotypes.

Other experiences shared at the conference showed that AI-generated images are often faulty or cannot be implemented. At the same time, however, they are visually very appealing and offer the possibility of creating a plan based on the planting image.

The immense energy consumption of AI must also be considered. This is because the huge amounts of data that have to be stored in order to use the technology consume a lot of server space, which is not very climate-friendly.

What is certain is that it is important to engage with the topic of artificial intelligence. Because although the technology – like other technologies – cannot take over landscape architecture on its own, it offers many exciting possibilities. It is important to bear in mind that AI software is less trained and developed for the generally small discipline of landscape architecture compared to other disciplines.

Whether AI-optimized CO2-reduced concrete mixes, the automated evaluation of customer and user reviews, aerial image analyses, pricing strategies or the identification of harmful plants and waste on drone images, the technology can support creative processes. At the same time, there is still a need for human performance such as spontaneity, ingenuity, intuition, artistic and creative skills or empathy for the client’s wishes. AI can improve landscape architecture, but it cannot take over.

18.12.2024

Zaha Hadid builds Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium – but not after all

Building design

News

Back to square one in Tokyo: Zaha Hadid Architects will not be building the central stadium for the 2020 Olympic Games after all.

It’s back to square one in Tokyo: Zaha Hadid Architects will not be building the central stadium for the 2020 Olympic Games after all. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has now declared that the entire process will be reset to zero for cost reasons. “We are starting all over again,” the Guardian quotes the Japanese politician as saying. So there will probably be a new competition.
Ultimately, however, the ever-increasing construction costs are likely to be just one reason for the decision. Architecturally, the extravagant building (Hadid, that is) also came in for a lot of criticism – not least from other architects. Arata Isozaki had described Hadid’s design as a turtle just waiting for Japan to sink into the sea so it could swim away. Pritzker Prize winner Fumihiko Maki had organized a symposium against the design, which was attended by Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma and Sou Fujimoto, among others. A petition against the building was also initiated.
Patrik Schumacher, the first architect in Zaha Hadid’s office, apparently holds this architect-dominated counter-movement partly responsible for the decision. He wrote on Facebook: “Maki and Ito will be remembered for this.”

30.10.2024

The center of Berlin remains green

Building design

The perspective shows the planned steps on the banks of the Spree. — 1st prize to Büro RMP Lenzen: Steps on the banks of the Spree with a view of the cathedral (Visualization: RMP Lenzen)

RMP Stephan Lenzen win the open space competition for the City Hall and Marx-Engels-Forum in Berlin: The office won against 52 other entries.

It’s all about a prominent area in Berlin’s historic center: sandwiched between the new Humboldt Forum and the television tower, the Rathaus- and Marx-Engels-Forum are getting a new design. The RMP Stephan Lenzen office has won the competition for the green center of Berlin.

Where the roots of the city of Berlin lie, there will soon be no new construction. The open spaces of the Rathaus-Forum and Marx-Engels-Forum will remain green. However, the area will be given a new design, which will result in a flight of steps leading down to the adjacent Spree. The Berlin Senate Administration invited people to take part in a competition in the spring. After an initial phase, citizens were allowed to have their say. A total of 21 landscape architecture firms then developed their ideas further in the second phase of the competition. The landscape architects from RMP Stephan Lenzen ultimately won over the jury. They proposed a central ribbon that connects listed areas of the Rathausforum with the Marx-Engels-Forum. This green ribbon ends in a large staircase on the banks of the Spree. Opposite, on the other side of the water, the eastern façade of the new Humboldt Forum shines.

The open space in the middle of old Berlin used to be called “Park an der Spree”. As one of the most central green spaces in the Mitte district, it dates back to the Second World War. It damaged the Heilig-Geist-Viertel, which ultimately prompted the GDR leadership to demolish it. Since then, the area between Karl-Liebknecht-Straße in the north, the park by the television tower in the east, Rathausstraße in the south and the Spree in the west has remained undeveloped. For a long time, there was an ensemble of monuments in the middle of the area, but this had to be moved to the north-western edge when the subway was built. The future of the Marx-Engels Forum has been under discussion since the 1990s. The ideas were many and varied. They ranged from the reconstruction of the Heilig-Geist-Viertel to the design of a park at the Marx-Engels-Forum. The latter ultimately prevailed.

Marx-Engels-Forum competition brief

The design of a park on the Marx-Engels-Forum now had to be fleshed out as part of the ideas and realization competition. The participants were asked to engage with the place where Berlin was founded, the historical layers hidden in the ground and the surrounding area. At the end of the long debate about the future of this site, citizens’ guidelines for the future development of the Rathaus Forum and the Marx-Engels Forumwere drawn up . These guidelines state that an open space should be designed that does justice to the dimensions and significance of the location and strengthens the identity of the site. In addition, it should bring the eventful history to life and at the same time enable diverse and intensive uses.

In the first phase, the competition initially asked for a vision and an idea for the entire Marx-Engels-Forum. Only the participants in the second phase had to derive their vision. In addition, they outlined an intermediate state for the year 2030 in the ideas part of the competition. In a third realization part, the concrete implementation for 2024 was then to be shown. This step-by-step approach is based on the intended gradual realization of the project. This will take a long time. Accordingly, the ideas must be based on a clear approach and offer a great deal of flexibility for process-based implementation.

The landscape architects from RMP Lenzen provided the most convincing solution for the new design of the Rathaus- and Marx-Engels-Forum. They designed an open space that is characterized by a striking figure. The plan is to keep the Rathaus- and Marx-Engels-Forum free of buildings. The green space promises a high quality of stay with areas for strolling, relaxing and enjoying spectacular views of the cathedral, Humboldt Forum and television tower. RMP Lenzen is equipping the new space with plenty of greenery and lots of shady trees. But water is also included, which contributes to cooling as well as infiltration areas that fit in with future rainwater management. Overall, the contribution to the Marx-Engels-Forum competition envisages a modern, climate-resilient urban space that enables a variety of uses.

Good things take time

The idea of initially creating a green space in the heart of old Berlin preserves opportunities for future generations. For the near future, the jury recommended that the first prize-winning work by RMP Lenzen be realized. This brings a controversial debate to an end. Hardly any other place in Berlin has experienced more planning and discussions than the Marx-Engels-Forum. But for the building senator, it is clear that the city of Berlin has done the right thing. After the fall of the Wall, it did not rush into planning. Now, against the backdrop of current plans for Alexanderplatz and Molkenmarkt and against the backdrop of climate adaptation and the mobility turnaround, things can be designed in peace.

Would you like to find out more about projects in the capital? We have summarized the next planning steps on the former Berlin Tegel airport site for you.