Ground Force: 7 Parks Where Landscape Architecture Raises the Stakes

Architizer's diverse jury of global experts is currently reviewing submissions to the 14th A+Awards! Sign up to receive updates on Public Voting and spring winner announcements.

Landscapes already do so much in the world of architecture. They provide shade, soften hard edges, guide circulation and create leisure spaces in different environments. In the following projects, however, architects assigned more ambitious roles to landscape design. They demonstrate how green space can carry infrastructure, bring communities together, preserve culture and marry the urban with the rural.

In each of these projects, landscape carries more weight than expected. At King Salman Park, it turns a water treatment plant into a civic feature. Along the Tagus River, it transforms a commuter trail into a daily experience of marsh and river. In Yogyakarta and Amsterdam, it becomes the anchor of community life. In Montserrat and New York, it ties people back to history and ecology. And at Begbroke, it frames a new village where research and rural life share the same ground.

Together, these case studies show how landscape works as design in its own right, shaping how people live, move and connect.

---

Loures Riverfront

By TOPIARIS Landscape Architecture, Loures, Portugal

Popular Choice Winner, Landscape +Planning, 13th Architizer A+Awards

The Loures Riverfront completes a key piece of mobility infrastructure along the Tagus River. It was conceived as part of an inter-municipal trail. The 3.8-mile (6.2-kilometer) boardwalk connects Lisbon to Vila-Franca-de-Xira and restores access to the river for neighborhoods long cut off by roads and rail. As a commuter route, it reduces car use, improves accessibility, and acts as a daily framework for movement.

Landscape design transforms this corridor into more than a link. The raised wooden path weaves through marshes and reed beds, punctuated by shaded tunnels, rest stops, and birdwatching decks. In this case, infrastructure becomes experience.

---

KSP Water Treatment Complex

By Omrania, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Jury Winner & Popular Choice Winner, Landscape +Planning, 13th Architizer A+Awards

Infrastructure can be stark and unyielding on its own, but when paired with thoughtful landscape design, it can gain new meaning and appeal. Green space can soften and elevate what might otherwise feel and appear heavy or technical.

Omrania designed the water treatment facility to feel like part of a leisure park. The landscape uses local and regional plants to reflect heritage and support sustainability. Water tanks are arranged so visitors can walk between them, their inverted forms creating generous shade. Each tank also has a green roof, giving people a place to climb up and enjoy wide views of the city. In this way, a technical facility becomes part of the park’s landscape, blending utility with public experience.

---

Kampung Mrican Phase 1

By SHAU with Instansi Direktorat PKP, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Popular Choice Winner, Landscape +Planning, 13th Architizer A+Awards

SHAU upgraded Kampung Mrican by treating the village as a landscape. They added walkways, plazas, and farming plots that now hold the community together. Along the river, residents agreed to create a setback, to make space for a path that also works as flood protection. SHAU included planting, lighting and fences with batik patterns to turn this path into both infrastructure and culture.

Other parts of the village follow the same idea. SHAU placed a playground above a wastewater facility, turning it into a place for play and ecology. They improved the urban farms with better facilities, making them more productive. The microlibrary stands on stilts, creating shaded space for gatherings and events. Each piece fits into the daily rhythm of the kampung, showing how landscape can turn infrastructure into community life.

---

Valerius

By DELVA Landscape Architecture | Urbanism, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Jury Winner, Landscape +Planning, 13th Architizer A+Awards

DELVA transformed the former Valerius Clinic site by placing landscape at the core of the new residential complex. The team designed a pocket park that cools the city and creates shared ground for both residents and wildlife. They wove greenery into the dense neighborhood to soften its edges and give people a calm place to gather.

DELVA lifted the courtyard above a parking garage and planted large trees in undulating beds. They added rooftop gardens that extend green space across the building, buffer water and slow runoff. With these landscape design decisions, the designers improved air quality, reduced heat and strengthened daily wellbeing.

---

Hudson River Park’s Gansevoort Peninsula

By Field Operations, New York City, New York

Jury Winner, Landscape +Planning, 13th Architizer A+Awards

Field Operations transformed a sanitation pier into a landscape of beaches, dunes and marshes. They shaped the peninsula to extend the transition from land to water, using planting and topography to create a resilient edge. Native species fill the dunes and groves, adding seasonal change and protecting the shoreline from wind and salt.

The team framed the southern edge with Manhattan’s first public beach, combining tidal pools, shade trees, and a rocky ledge for seating. On the north side, they built the city’s first salt marsh on the Hudson, seeded with oysters and new habitats for birds. These layered landscapes turn hard infrastructure into living ground where people and nature meet.

---

Hotel Masía Can Farrés

By SCOB Architecture & Landscape, Barcelona, Spain

Popular Choice Winner, Landscape +Planning, 13th Architizer A+Awards

SCOB restored the grounds of a 15th-century farmhouse in Montserrat. They drew from the mountain’s character, using local conglomerate stone, ceramic and metal trellises. These materials, long tied to the region’s farms, shape seating areas and paths around the hotel. Each choice roots the design in the geology and traditions of the site.

The team highlighted Montserrat’s natural and spiritual presence while respecting its agricultural past. With local materials and careful interventions, they restored the link between architecture and landscape. The farmhouse now works as a rural hotel that feels inseparable from its setting.

---

Masterplan Begbroke Innovation District

By OKRA, Oxford, United Kingdom

Popular Choice Winner, Landscape +Planning, 13th Architizer A+Awards

OKRA shaped the Begbroke Innovation District around a landscape framework. They planned homes, labs, schools and farmland within a connected system of parks, fields and conservation areas. Green corridors tie these pieces together, turning circulation into part of the landscape.

The designers used topography, ecology and water to guide the plan. They created a natural drainage system that manages runoff and strengthens biodiversity. Fields for food production sit alongside research space, and public parks bring residents and researchers together. By making landscape the framework, OKRA shaped a village that joins research with the rural lifestyle.

Architizer's diverse jury of global experts is currently reviewing submissions to the 14th A+Awards! Sign up to receive updates on Public Voting and spring winner announcements.