No Ideas but in Things / Rivers do not flow around us, but through us
Swiss architect Georges Descombes presented his approach to landscape regeneration and public space in a lecture titled No Ideas but in Things. The title references the poet William Carlos Williams and reflects a focus on process and tangible outcomes.
Using the Aire River restoration project in Geneva as a case study, Descombes discussed his Double Component approach. This project combines the former canal with the new riverbed, creating a public space that serves as an open-air laboratory and a stage for public debate. The aim is to move beyond discussions limited to specialists and engage a wider audience in observing and questioning the ongoing experiment. A central element of Descombes’ work is the concept of Process-Based Design, which views design as an evolving process informed by continuous observation and interaction with the site and its context.
Alongside Georges Descombes, Czech landscape architect Klára Salzmann spoke, presenting her lecture Rivers do not flow around us, but through us. She explored the systematic regeneration of water in the landscape as a fundamental prerequisite for life, biodiversity, and public space. Her work builds on the legacy of Prof. Štěrba, who identified and articulated the significance and complexity of river landscapes in the Czech lands.
In her lecture, she pointed out the phenomenon of water, which is perceived more as a resource of our life and activities. At the same time, water is a coexistence part and co-actor in the formation of our Planet and defines precisely routes of its movement. Our efforts to change these axioms without listening to the concert of sounds, shapes and relationships proved not to be very successful in the past. So what are our options for survival in our landscape without threatening the very essence of our existence and spirit? The subject of Klára Salzmann’s work is to seek and find models that will enable our mutual coexistence with the living world around us.
Georges Descombes lives and works in Geneva. He studied architecture in Geneva, Zurich, and London (AAGS). He has taught at the University of Geneva School of Architecture, the Berlage Institute, and as a visiting professor at Harvard GSD, the University of Virginia School of Architecture, Berkeley University, and the Rapperswil School of Landscape Architecture. He has also lectured extensively across Europe, the USA, Israel, China, and South America. Among his completed projects are the Park in Lancy, the Swiss Path, the Bijlmer Memorial in Amsterdam, and Parc de la Cour du Maroc in Paris. He is currently working on the River Aire restoration project in Geneva, the Lyon Confluence riversides, the Ostende Green Belt project, the Materialkaai in Brussels, and the DokZuid Park in Antwerp, Belgium. Most of these projects have been realized in collaboration with the ADR office in Geneva.
Klára Salzmann lives and works in Brdy Mountains in southwest of the Czech Republic. She graduated in landscape architecture in Budapest, Hungary and Nitra, Slovakia. At the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague she runs the Design Studio for Large Landscape Scales as part of the Landscape Architecture study. She used to work on landscape planning for the cities of Banská Bystrica, Plzeň – St. George’s Park, Blovice, Spálené Poříčí, Zbiroh, and many other municipalities. At the same time, she lectured the village mayors througout the country. In 2015, she implemented an international project to renew landscape of the Czech-German border region based on the model of municipality Výškovice.
