Twelve Spanish landscape architects to inspire your vision for your garden
Early summer sows an irresistible longing for lazy days in gardens and green spaces. If you are lucky enough to live in a home with a private garden that would benefit from some professional flair, or if you’re just looking for advice and inspiration to get the most out of your space, then these are the names to know.
Landscape architecture is a discipline at the confluence of nature, architecture and art. A landscape architect will plan, design, shape and manage an outdoor space from a responsible and inclusive perspective, seeking to create a meaningful experience spanning environmental, social and cultural spheres. Fortunately, Spain is a hotbed of talent in this field. If you want the best, keep these names in your little black book:
1# Fernando Martos
Based in Madrid since 2005, Fernando Martos and his team are highly sought after for commissions all over the world. He aims to take a client-centred approach while responding to all of the elements at play in design and construction, so that each garden fits seamlessly into the surrounding landscape.
2# Daniel Valera
Daniel Valera leads a multidisciplinary team (landscape architects, architects and engineers) who couple technology with design to create sustainable spaces in perfect harmony with their surroundings.
#3 Esther Ribas
In her vivacious designs, Esther Ribas seeks exuberance, density and, at times, an element of chaos. Her work is known for its lavish layering and voluptuous greenery.
#4 Mireia Iglesias
Iglesias approaches outdoor space as an extension of the home or building to which it belongs. Her goal is to bring unity to the whole, offering satisfying solutions that marry quality and functionality, without the need for excessive investment or resources and using materials requiring minimal maintenance.
#5 Fernando Pozuelo
Renowned for his unique, high-impact designs, Fernando Pozuelo is a highly imaginative landscape architect with an appreciable interest in literature and the visual arts. Through his work, he aims to bring the classical garden aesthetic into the twenty-first century, focusing on new challenges like sustainability and the quest for a more human approach to urban design that lets us restore our connection with nature.
His extraordinary creativity can be seen at this Tuscan-style villa with designer gardens in Fuente del Fresno, Madrid.
#6 Miguel Urquijo
Together with his associate Renate Kastner, Miguel Urquijo founded a landscape architecture and garden design studio in Madrid over 20 years ago. To him, the role of the landscape architect is to respond to the needs and specificities of the environment in a way that strikes us as natural and entirely unforced.
#7 María Jover and #8 Ane Barrutia
Every landscape can become a garden, a place with its own name and identity, a space of authentic well-being. That’s the philosophy practised by this talented duo, whose designs reach towards harmony, simplicity, naturalness, sustainability and, of course, beauty.
#9 Javier Mariátegui
A passionate advocate of landscape architecture, Javier Mariátegui is a global name in this field. With more than 30 years of experience, he says that “a garden is a theatre for the emotions”, its most crucial element the bones on which it is built, the design it was created to realise.
#10 Gonzalo Morillo, #11 Luisa Olazábal and #12 Luis Ojeda
These three landscape architects head up a multidisciplinary team, enabling them to approach each project from a holistic perspective. Starting from a fresh interpretation of classical garden design, their work stands out for its sensitive handling of proportions and harmonious integration with the architecture, flora and light that makes each space unique.