Bavarian Landscape Architecture Award 2024: Nominations

The nominated projects for this year’s Bavarian Landscape Architecture Award have been announced. At the same time, online voting for the Audience Award has started. Find out who has been nominated for the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Award 2024 and where you can vote for the Audience Award here.

Since Monday, July 8, it has been known which projects the expert jury has nominated for the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Award 2024. The bdla Bayern published the nominees on the award’s website. In addition to a main prize, awards will be presented in five categories. The bdla Bayern has been awarding the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Prize every two years since 2020. It will be awarded for the third time in 2024.

However, the jury will not make the final decision on another award this year. Instead, all interested parties can take part – in the public award. Voting for this also started on July 8. Voting is open until August 23 via the link on the Landscape Architecture Award website. The projects shortlisted by the expert jury will be put forward for voting.

Landscape architects from Germany and abroad were able to submit their projects for the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Prize 2024 until the beginning of April. Working groups in which landscape architects were involved were also able to take part. The requirement for the projects to be submitted The offices had to have completed them within the past five years, i.e. between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2023.

In addition to the main prize, the expert jury will be awarding prizes in the following categories this year

• Landscape planning and landscape development
• Plant use and biodiversity
• Construction in existing buildings and circular economy
• Open spaces for people
• Experimental landscape architecture and building in detail

The category for which the projects have been nominated is not public. We will also have to wait until the fall before the winners are announced: The award ceremony is scheduled for September 27 at the Landesgartenschau Kirchheim. It is already possible to register to take part in the award ceremony via the bdla website or the competition website.

The expert jury nominated a total of ten projects for the main prize as well as the awards in the categories of the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Prize 2024. Among the nominees is the elementary school in Infanteriestraße in Munich’s Kreativquartier. Its outdoor area was designed by Treibhaus Landschaftsarchitektur from Hamburg. The buildings were designed by Behnisch Architekten; in addition to the primary school building, the complex also includes a canteen, sports hall and the children’s house with crèche and kindergarten. The schoolyard is designed as a “multiple coded learning landscape”, as the project description states. For example, the school’s outdoor area includes a climbing landscape and a traffic course, as well as a green classroom and a natural area for free appropriation. The children’s house has a shaded terrace, water features and a sand area. The roof area can also be used in different ways, even on hot days thanks to awnings. The outdoor area designed by Treibhaus Landschaftsarchitektur was completed between 2016 and 2022 and opened in 2023.

Another project nominated for the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Award 2024 is located in Tirschenreuth, in the north of Bavaria near the Czech border. The nominated project at the district administration office there was realized by the Tirschenreuth-based office STADT LAND FANCK Landschaftsarchitektur und Ökologie. Under the title “Old stones – new inner courtyard”, the planners redesigned the inner courtyard between four office buildings to make it barrier-free. They also worked with existing materials: old paving stones made of dark basalt were combined with new ones made of granite; old steps were recut. All the names of the towns in the district are engraved on the edge of the seat of a new fountain. Porcelain plates designed by ceramic artist Barbara Flügel are set into the shallow basin. A new type of system purifies the water in the fountain using cold combustion. The office began planning in 2020 after winning the competition the previous year. STADT LAND FANCK completed the redesign in May 2022.

The redesigned lakeside promenade in Dießen am Ammersee is one of the nominees for the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Award 2024. This was realized by lohrer.hochrein landschaftsarchitekten und stadtplaner in a consortium with the engineering office Engelsmann Peters from 2018 to 2023. The planners took up the existing basic structure of the area: There is a paved square in the center; the bank areas to the north and south of this are more green. The bank walls were in need of renovation. A stepped area, partly planted with shrubs, now offers seating directly by the lake. A new bridge over the Mühlbach will once again meet the usage requirements. It connects the lake area – with a new kiosk and art pavilion from the Diessen art working group – with the so-called Boxler facilities. The pathways in this area have now been upgraded. There is also a new barefoot path next to the Kneipp pool, a mini-golf course and lawns with picnic tables and deckchairs.

Also on the shore, but on Lake Constance, a whole chain of parks surrounds Lindau’s old town. The project by Atelier Loidl Landschaftsarchitekten has also been nominated for the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Prize 2024. A series of new open spaces were created in the western part of Lindau Island, beyond the railroad station. The planners designed a network of paths that connects the parks with various facilities. With a restrained design language, the proverbial stage was to be left to the view, the old trees and contact with the lake. In the Bürgerpark, a set of steps leads to Lake Constance and makes swimming possible. On the northern shore of the island, Sina-Kinkelin-Platz offers an extended playground under old trees. The planners incorporated the historic Luitpoldpark into the overall concept and extended the Schützingerterrasse into a promenade with a view of the Alps. The project was completed between 2017 and 2022.

Another of the nominated projects for the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Award 2024 is located in Plattling: Nordpark III. The park, located north of the train station, was designed by BEM Burkhardt | Engelmayer | Mendel Landschaftsarchitekten Stadtplaner. This is the third section of the park, which was created on the former freight yard site. The 2.5-hectare area consists of two parts: an extensive, landscaped area in the south and a kind of campus in the north. There are historic railroad buildings and newer buildings, such as a music school and a research center. For the more architectural and formal area, squares and courtyards were created from regional granite, supplemented by wild shrub planting. Parallel to the railroad areas, a lizard wall was created from building rubble. There is also a path for cyclists and pedestrians. 124 new trees and over 200 shrubs were planted in the Nordpark. The planners implemented the project from 2017 to 2023.

Another of the projects nominated for the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Award 2024 is located near Tirschenreuth. From 2019 to 2022, Brückner & Brückner Architekten realized the Waldnaab Chapel together with STADT LAND FANCK. The newly built wayside chapel is located in the floodplains of the Waldnaab river; it stands directly on the water. Information boards point the way to it; there are also parking spaces for bicycles. The chapel can be reached via a simple path made from local gritstone. Local materials were also used for the building itself: just as coniferous forests grow over the kaolin rock of the Tirschenreuth pond pan, kaolin sand was added to the concrete of the chapel foundation. Beams made of coniferous wood form the space of the chapel. The Waldnaab Chapel is open to everyone at any time of day. The initials of the donors for the construction are marked on the beams of the chapel. The Waldnab Chapel was built between 2019 and 2022.

Another project among the nominees is located around ten kilometers east of Deggendorf, in the small village of Obersteinhausen. Here, landscape architect Andreas Kicherer and his Munich office OK Landschaft designed a private client’s garden. Architect Peter Haimerl was responsible for the architecture of the building. The site is located in the protected landscape area of the Bavarian Forest; there is a rich granite deposit in the area. Stone is used as a design element throughout the outdoor facilities. Several boulders were used. Among other things, they were cut into slices, which now form a staircase in the driveway area. They are embedded as path slabs in the paved entrance area or in the lawn. Stone slabs form a bench in the garden. The planners worked with the topography of the site and created a sequence of garden spaces. Groups of native trees and shrubs were also planted. The project was completed between 2018 and 2021.

The expert jury nominated the adlerolesch office’s renovation of the Annette-Kolb-Anlage in Nuremberg for the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Prize 2024. In the project, the planners further developed the 1993 facility in the Langwasser development area of Nuremberg. It consists of three areas: an active strip, an open meadow and an extensive rest area with a dry ditch. In the first of these areas, a square and an existing BMX track were renovated. A new calisthenics area and seating steps were added. Eight to twelve-year-olds can now play on a new, inclusive playground. The planners designed the more actively used area with blue accents. The meadow and the dry ditch were also slightly adapted. Overall, a new path system was created, taking into account the existing trees. Two visually and haptically contrasting materials were used for the path surfaces in accordance with the two-senses principle: existing granite paving and light-colored precast concrete elements that form a ribbon. The adlerolesch office implemented the project from 2020 to 2023.

Memmingen is home to the ninth of the projects nominated for the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Prize 2024: the Karoline Goldhofer daycare center. The outdoor area was designed by LATZ+PARTNER LandschaftsArchitektur Stadtplanung. They worked closely with the architectural firm heilergeiger architekten und stadtplaner BDA and the client, the Alois Goldhofer Foundation. The daycare center was created from the conversion of the founder family’s former home with a large garden. The project worked with the existing building and vegetation. Existing materials were reused, for example in the retaining wall in the entrance area. This consists of old roof tiles and wood from felled trees. The daycare center follows the Reggio pedagogy approach; in the garden, the children have access to areas for experimentation and movement, sand and mud areas, play areas and places to retreat. The project ran from 2016 to 2019.

The Oberwiesenfeldpark by mahl gebhard konzepte has also been nominated for the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Award 2024. The public open space of over 40,000 square meters is located in the north of Munich, next to the Oberwiesenfeld residential complex. The planners modeled the terrain for the park: noise barriers shield it from car traffic. Oberwiesenfeldpark combines play and sports facilities, recreational opportunities and nature conservation. In addition to play areas and climbing frames, there is also an asphalt skate park and a dirt park for bikers. Soccer, basketball and table tennis can be played on multifunctional sports areas. Loungers and benches invite you to take a break; the meadow area is open to various uses. Spawning ponds and rough grassland at the edge of the park provide a habitat for fauna. The planners realized the project between 2012 and 2021.

The winners of the main prize and the awards in the five categories will be announced at the awards ceremony on September 27 at the Landesgartenschau Kirchheim. Before that, you can still take part in the public voting: This runs until August 23. Click here to vote.

Read more: In 2022, the main prize of the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Award went to Prinz-Eugen-Park by Liebald + Aufermann Landschaftsarchitekten. Find out more about the project and the other winners here.

Our special on the topic provides an overview of the various landscape architecture awards nationwide.