Richard Bödeker: Saudi Arabia was his stage
Landscape architect Richard Bödeker died in November 2019 at the age of 85. A great figure in German landscape architecture has thus left the stage. In fact, the world in which he moved for decades often became a stage – without Bödeker staging himself as a star. He never saw his appearance as a performance and yet it had an immense impact.
From 1974 onwards, his stage for many months each year was Saudi Arabia, a country that was still largely closed at the time. At that time, landscape architecture could only be realized there by those who possessed above-average planning expertise, courage and a thirst for adventure and were able to open up new horizons for themselves and others. To achieve the status of a friend in the very highest circles, you also needed the kind of dexterity that only very few people can muster in a completely foreign cultural environment. Bödeker’s expertise resulted in pioneering projects for Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh. First and foremost is the open space planning of the diplomatic quarter, for which he even received the coveted Aga Khan Prize in 1989. His persuasive power was responsible, if perhaps only to a small extent, for the process of an opening society that we are currently witnessing.
Although Büro Bödeker, for many years closely associated with names such as Horst Wagenfeld, Armin Boyer and David Elsworth, also realized numerous projects in Germany, his name will remain primarily associated with Saudi Arabia. Just a few months before his death, Richard Bödeker traveled to Riyadh to present his “Green First” philosophy to high-ranking personalities. The work on the Saudi Arabia stage continues, under the direction of his son Jens and other partners from the next generation.
Also from 2019: Prof. Dr. Géza Hajós passed away in Vienna in February 2019. Click here for the obituary: Géza Hajós.