As the conversation gets off to a start, it\u2019s clear that Kathryn Gustafson (Yakima, Washington) knows the places she talks about very well.<\/p>\n
We talked to her about projects around the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the challenges of a city grappling with conflicts of interest between citizens and tourists. We also discuss iconic collaborative projects between her firm, Gustafson Porter + Bowman, and Urbidermis in the city of Valencia. But, above all, we talk about the people that make these places.<\/p>\n
This American landscape architect has enjoyed a long career in both landscape and fashion design. Her name is synonymous internationally with creativity and she is behind some of the most iconic projects in urban design today; projects that share a vision and a distinctive approach.<\/p>\n
As we talk about her projects and the history she shares with Urbidermis, this comprehensive approach becomes clear. In her work, all variables are considered, all the whats, the hows and, especially, the whys. Kathryn tells us about how important it is that all projects respond to people\u2019s real needs.<\/p>\n"}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"texto_parrafo_pantalla_completa_interview","text_pantalla_completa_interview":"
Kathryn Gustafson: \u201cThe goal is that your landscape becomes part of people’s lives\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"imagenes_posicion_dinamica_interview","selecciona_tipo_de_imagen_posicion_dinamica":"left-single","grupo_imagen_texto_left":{"titulo_item_imagen_texto_left":"Parc Central","texto_item_imagen_texto_left":"Valencia, Spain","imagen_item_imagen_texto_left":"https:\/\/www.urbidermis.com\/recursos\/imagenes_galeria\/20190526-Spain-Valencia-Parc-Central-NRBLV-Richard-Bloom-05-x1000-1-x1000.jpg\n"},"grupo_imagen_texto_center":{"titulo_item_imagen_texto_center":"","texto_item_imagen_texto_center":"","imagen_item_imagen_texto_center":""},"grupo_imagen_imagen_texto":{"titulo_item_imagen_imagen_texto":"","texto_item_imagen_imagen_texto":"","imagen_first_item_imagen_imagen_texto":"","imagen_second_item_imagen_imagen_texto":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"texto_pregunta_respuesta_interview","direccion_de_texto_izquierda__derecha_pregunta_respuesta":"left","preguntas_respuestas_interview_repeater":[{"item_pregunta_repeater_interview":"","item_respuesta_repeater_interview":"
The context and elements that define each space are probably the most important aspects for her. Whether a historical space linked with water or a tourist area that has to fuse tourist and local use, it is crucial to understand the role played by the place, the furniture it contains: \u201c[…] I think it\u2019s about understanding that not all furniture fits everywhere. It is very important that it fits certain environments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who is your client? Who is your public? What are the environmental challenges? Ultimately, what is the project\u2019s human objective? The list of questions that need to be asked are similar from one project to another, but the answers vary (widely). Kathryn stresses over and over that \u201cYou\u2019ve really got to sit down and figure them out before you even start.\u201d<\/p>\n"}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"imagen_pantalla_completa_interview","imagen_pantalla_completa_interview":"https:\/\/www.urbidermis.com\/recursos\/imagenes_galeria\/20190525-Spain-Valencia-Parc-Central-NRBLV-Richard-Bloom-04-x1000-1-x2400.jpg\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"texto_pregunta_respuesta_interview","direccion_de_texto_izquierda__derecha_pregunta_respuesta":"right","preguntas_respuestas_interview_repeater":[{"item_pregunta_repeater_interview":"","item_respuesta_repeater_interview":"
Spaces that fit<\/strong><\/p>\n It is this reflection that helps to understand who the different people that will be passing through the space actually are, or even the implications the space\u2019s history might have. Knowing a place is of vital importance for creating what Kathryn calls \u201cspaces that fit\u201d.<\/p>\n To transform a design or project into a space that fits its context, \u201cit\u2019s all about trying to figure out how people actually function together and creating the situations\u201d. For Kathryn, the important thing is that urban spaces and furniture allow the interactions people need depending on their context.<\/p>\n Indeed, an example of these interactions takes us to the beginning of the collaboration between Kathryn and Urbidermis (at the time the urban division of Santa & Cole). And it takes us to the Venice Biennale, to a project in which the landscape architect proposed the intervention Towards Paradise.<\/p>\n This piece included sections for reflection. Sections that require a pause and time to think. A pause in the shape of benches where one could sit and stop. But it also comprised sections for the imagination, sections to lie down on the grass and be inspired by the floating sheets and balloons. To think about the idea of paradise.<\/p>\n A project as dreamlike as this one is nevertheless still a clear example of spaces that fit. A space that responded not only to the expectations of the organizers, but also to the real experience of the visitors, because \u201cyou know you don’t want people to just like walk through it. You want them to slow down, stop. Look at what\u2019s around them and think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n"}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"imagenes_posicion_dinamica_interview","selecciona_tipo_de_imagen_posicion_dinamica":"center-single","grupo_imagen_texto_left":{"titulo_item_imagen_texto_left":"","texto_item_imagen_texto_left":"","imagen_item_imagen_texto_left":""},"grupo_imagen_texto_center":{"titulo_item_imagen_texto_center":"Outdoor Campus for Novartis North Park","texto_item_imagen_texto_center":"Basel, Switzerland","imagen_item_imagen_texto_center":"https:\/\/www.urbidermis.com\/recursos\/imagenes_galeria\/20190703-Switzerland-Basel-Novartis-North-Park-Campus-BCB-Richard-Bloom-12-x1000-1-x1000.jpg\n"},"grupo_imagen_imagen_texto":{"titulo_item_imagen_imagen_texto":"","texto_item_imagen_imagen_texto":"","imagen_first_item_imagen_imagen_texto":"","imagen_second_item_imagen_imagen_texto":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"texto_pregunta_respuesta_interview","direccion_de_texto_izquierda__derecha_pregunta_respuesta":"left","preguntas_respuestas_interview_repeater":[{"item_pregunta_repeater_interview":"","item_respuesta_repeater_interview":" Driven to innovate and provide responses<\/strong><\/p>\n When talking about how to apply these design projects to real life, Kathryn reminds us of the importance of bearing in mind the most tangible techniques: “For the outdoors, the technical [part] is super important. Because they get beat up, right? The furniture gets beat up, the tables get beat up, they get moved\u2026 […] Also, how is it being used? Is it outside all the time? Or is it brought in at night? […] How’s it built?… […]”<\/p>\n Temperature, materials, finishes, resistance\u2026 This is where innovation comes into play and where, as Kathryn tells us, having collaborators like Urbidermis is key. Collaborators that know how to do what\u2019s asked of them and who are willing to invest the time and energy needed to get the sought-after results. Because not everyone is.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m coming to your offices. Okay, I wanna see what you’re willing to do and not do. And so what is the comfort level? […] And want to try to understand how it\u2019s gonna fit and have conversations.\u201d It is these conversations that give rise to the collaboration\u2019s opportunities and the readiness to innovate and design spaces that respond to the real needs of people.<\/p>\n"}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"imagen_pantalla_completa_interview","imagen_pantalla_completa_interview":"https:\/\/www.urbidermis.com\/recursos\/imagenes_galeria\/20190703-Switzerland-Basel-Novartis-North-Park-Campus-BCB-BCM-Richard-Bloom-11-x1000-1-x2400.jpg\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"texto_pregunta_respuesta_interview","direccion_de_texto_izquierda__derecha_pregunta_respuesta":"left","preguntas_respuestas_interview_repeater":[{"item_pregunta_repeater_interview":"","item_respuesta_repeater_interview":" Spaces that represent people<\/strong><\/p>\n That readiness implies, in most cases, connecting with what moves them, what worries them. According to Kathryn, giving a response to social changes today is more important and easier than ever: \u201cBut now the public understands it better. And so you can communicate with them better. So that makes people more aware of themselves and what they’re doing [when using a space].\u201d<\/p>\n Notable among the changes in the near future that Kathryn highlights are design sustainability and responsibility. Both in terms of nature and what people are concerned about. More and more people want to know the origin of the materials used in the urban furniture they are interacting with, what impact they generate when people pass through a space and how that connects with how they see things.<\/p>\n"}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"texto_parrafo_pantalla_completa_interview","text_pantalla_completa_interview":" \u201cIt\u2019s about understanding what they see, what they want to do, what they do. And how to surprise them and make them say this place is important to me, so I’m gonna go there because I experience things differently.<\/em> That means they enjoy their landscape, that it becomes part of their lives and represents them.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"texto_pregunta_respuesta_interview","direccion_de_texto_izquierda__derecha_pregunta_respuesta":"right","preguntas_respuestas_interview_repeater":[{"item_pregunta_repeater_interview":"","item_respuesta_repeater_interview":" The key, again, lies in stopping to observe and understand what people\u2019s concerns are. Responding to their needs. Whether these are tangible, like accessibility, or less visible, like safety aspects: \u201c[The idea is] that they can do what they want, right? That they feel comfortable. And I think for that to happen, it has to be safe. So they don’t worry about something happening. And so you don\u2019t […] feel like you’re in an area that is restricting you to do stuff. It just has to be seamless.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, it\u2019s all about finding out how it can fit. So the role of design is simply that of adding to people\u2019s experiences. Add the right lighting, comfortable material and a space that reaches out to them. “That aspect of touching the soul of somebody is, for me, the most important thing you can do. So that they can appropriate it. They make it theirs”, the landscape designer highlights. Like that favourite bench we all have in our local park.<\/p>\n Talking with Kathryn is understanding first-hand how it feels to make a place yours. To appropriate it. The way she explains each project and talks about the places is simply the living example of that connection. She talks to us about the spaces that represent her way of understanding landscape architecture and her relationship with people. A relationship that, as she says herself, \u201cis not only functional but also emotional in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n"}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"imagenes_posicion_dinamica_interview","selecciona_tipo_de_imagen_posicion_dinamica":"doble-img-single","grupo_imagen_texto_left":{"titulo_item_imagen_texto_left":"","texto_item_imagen_texto_left":"","imagen_item_imagen_texto_left":""},"grupo_imagen_texto_center":{"titulo_item_imagen_texto_center":"","texto_item_imagen_texto_center":"","imagen_item_imagen_texto_center":""},"grupo_imagen_imagen_texto":{"titulo_item_imagen_imagen_texto":"Parc Central","texto_item_imagen_imagen_texto":"Valencia, Spain","imagen_first_item_imagen_imagen_texto":"https:\/\/www.urbidermis.com\/recursos\/imagenes_galeria\/20190526-Spain-Valencia-Parc-Central-NRBLV-Richard-Bloom-07-x1000-1-x1000.jpg\n","imagen_second_item_imagen_imagen_texto":"https:\/\/www.urbidermis.com\/recursos\/imagenes_galeria\/20190525-Spain-Valencia-Parc-Central-NRBLV-Richard-Bloom-01-x1000-1-x1000.jpg\n"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"texto_pregunta_respuesta_interview","direccion_de_texto_izquierda__derecha_pregunta_respuesta":"right","preguntas_respuestas_interview_repeater":[{"item_pregunta_repeater_interview":"","item_respuesta_repeater_interview":" Parc Central – Valencia<\/strong><\/p>\n For Kathryn, the city of Valencia is one of the world\u2019s most beautiful. A city that, thanks to this landscaping project, she has become very familiar with. Like all the places she has worked in.<\/p>\n The importance of the river, the environment of the Albufera, the Mediterranean climate\u2026 The relationship this environment has with water was key when it came to designing a park that fits. A park that also kept in mind the area\u2019s historical context and its agricultural past.<\/p>\n Understanding the setting was key for a project like this. But so too was understanding its purpose. How the people who would be passing through would be using it and how it could become a place that really added value.<\/p>\n In this process, Kathryn came to Urbidermis to find part of the solution. To find a solution together that would respond to the project needs, to collaborate with a studio that was willing to adapt to such a unique context. Because for her, \u201cthe important thing is trying to figure out who does what, how they do it well and having conversations about it.\u201d<\/p>\n"}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"texto_parrafo_pantalla_completa_interview","text_pantalla_completa_interview":" Understanding the setting was key for a project like this. But so too was understanding its purpose. How the people who would be passing through would be using it and how it could become a place that really added value.<\/p>\n"}],"abstract":"","read_time":"15","imagen_de_fondo_header_generic":"","article_paragraphs":false,"imagen_para_banner_articulos_por_defecto_single_post":"","activar_simulate_banner_interview":false,"short_description":"We talk with landscape designer Kathryn about \u201cspaces that fit\u201d, years collaborating with Urbidermis and the key elements for the future of landscape and urban design. All the while keeping people at the centre.","imagen_portada_proyecto_single_proyecto":"https:\/\/www.urbidermis.com\/recursos\/imagenes_galeria\/Foto-Kathryn-x1000.jpg\n"},"yoast_head":"\n