Sigurd Henne – An obituary for the father of educational gardens

His legacy was the teaching and experimental gardens. As their scientific director, Professor Sigurd Henne made the Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences a popular place for visitors, who also came from outside the region to visit the sites in Braike and Tachenhausen. He hoped for a new garden culture, without human dominance, to which everyone could contribute something. Now the college mourns the loss of the renowned planner and professor, who had taught at the School of Business and the Environment since 2007. At the age of 57, Henne died unexpectedly on August 13, 2023.

Sigurd Henne began his education in 1988 with a degree in landscape architecture at the Technical University of Munich. He graduated in 1995. Before embarking on an academic career, he worked for three years as head of open space planning at Jung & Partner, Landscape Architects & Consultants. In 1998, he began working as a research assistant at the chair of Prof. Peter Latz. He focused his research on vegetation technology and vegetation management. This time in Munich was to shape his professional career. He was given his own department and taught the “Technology of Landscape Architecture”.

One of the things the college appreciated about Henne was his diversity. He did not work at the university all the time, but initially worked as head of open space planning at Büro für Landschaftsentwicklung Bensheim and Oberhausen/Rheinhausen from 1999 to 2001, where he also entered into a partnership with Rainer Mühlinghaus from 2001 to 2006. He brought all of this experience to teaching and research when he joined the Faculty of Landscape Architecture, Environmental and Urban Planning as a professor, as Professor Dr. Andreas Frey writes about his late colleague in an obituary. It continues: “In Sigurd Henne, the School of Business and the Environment has lost a professor with passion, whose extraordinary commitment to teaching and research benefited his students in particular. He was able to motivate and inspire students.”

He shared his wealth of knowledge in a humorous and engaging way in lectures and on excursions that will remain unforgettable for students and colleagues alike. As a professor, he introduced new teaching content, structures and forms of teaching into the lectures. As scientific director of the teaching and experimental gardens on the Braike campus and in Tachenhausen, he ensured that the teaching gardens not only became an integral part of teaching, but also a magnet for the public with a supra-regional impact for the university. Another project with which he achieved public impact was the Academy for Vegetation Technology and Landscaping (avela). Sigurd Henne co-founded and designed the academy as a specialist forum for knowledge transfer, in which the HfWU works together with companies and associations.

As an expert in gardening and landscaping, Sigurd Henne was also given the opportunity to comment on current issues relating to urban nature. In a video, for example, he was asked by “Green Creative Work” for his opinion on gravel gardens (see below). In it, he stated that he would like to see a garden culture in the future in which everyone makes their contribution and which is less characterized by human dominance.