2024-11-29
29 分钟We speak to Thomas Woltz of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, whose new monograph, ‘The Land is Full’, explains why all land comes with deep history and cultural ties. Then we inspire young urbanists with the author of an architecturally themed colouring book and assess how Singapore will combat loneliness in its rapidly ageing population. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hello and welcome to the Urbanist, Monocle's program all about the built environment.
I'm your host, Andrew Tuck.
Coming up, the story of a place so thoroughly emerges from that site that the work simply cannot exist anywhere else.
How can the story of a piece of land influence the design and development of what happens on it?
We'll explore the landscape architecture work by the Nelson Bird Waltz studio, which is putting history, sustainability and the public realm at the heart of it all.
Then we turn to urbanists, young and old.
First, a series of coloring books trying to engage children with a built environment from a young age.
And then we're in Singapore to explore some of the design and community driven solutions to tackle a rapidly aging urban population.
That's all coming up over the next 30 minutes right here on the Urbanist with me, Andrew Tuck.
Our first guest today is Thomas Waltz, the owner and senior principal of Nelson Bird Waltz or MBW Landscape Architects.
MBW have recently released a monograph titled the Land is Full, which demonstrates one of the firm's foundational ideas that all land, urban or rural, comes with a deep history and cultural ties.
It features 12 parks and public gardens that showcase the power landscape design can have in creating a public realm that connects to communities and enriches the natural environment.
Earlier, Monica's Carla Tirobello caught up with Thomas and she began by asking what his path was to becoming a landscape architect.
I, as a child always wanted to be an architect.
I was fascinated by construction and buildings and space.
I used to take bamboo poles that my parents were quite happy for me to chop down any bamboo because it was very invasive and make plans of full scale buildings all the time and then walk them through when they would come home from work.
So I went to architecture school.
Upon graduation, I moved to Venice and worked for an architect for five years.
And there was, ironically, my epiphany to landscape architecture.
Because I was living in a city that had fantastic outdoor spaces.