Sleegers Publishes Design Analysis and History of Mauerpark Berlin

Content

A 2024 drawing by Sleegers showing Lange's overall design plan "showing existing vegetation, pathways and structures, December 2020."

Frank Sleegers, Professor of Landscape Architecture and Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture Program at UMass Amherst, published his article “Gustav Lange and the role of design composition in Mauerpark Berlin” in ECLAS’s peer-reviewed Journal of Landscape Architecture. The expansive design critique capitalizes on Sleegers’ collaboration with renowned German landscape architect Gustav Lange (1937-2022) and makes the meaning of built ideas understandable and comprehensible to an audience beyond landscape architecture. The editors commented: 

Frank Sleegers highlights another dimension of interdependence through a design analysis of Mauerpark, offering insights into the design philosophy of landscape architect Gustav Lange. His critique focuses on the park’s condition of in-betweenness-sited on the former border strip of the Berlin Wall - and the geometric composition that generates a spectrum of spatial energies, from stable to dynamic, while creating interstitial zones "where things can happen."

Read the article here. If your institution does not have a subscription to the Journal of Landscape Architecture, please email Frank Sleegers (sleegers [at] larp [dot] umass [dot] edu (sleegers[at]larp[dot]umass[dot]edu)) to receive a PDF of this design reflection on Gustav Lange’s most significant work.