The Team

Jörg Rekittke
Landscape architect and skilled nursery gardener, studied at the Technical University Berlin (TUB) and Ecole Nationale Supérieure du Paysage Versailles (ENSP). Teaching assistant at RWTH Aachen University from 1997 to 2006 – until 2001 at Department of Landscape Design, from 2001 at Department of Urban Design and Regional Planning. Doctorate from RWTH Aachen University in 2001. December 2006 to November 2008 employed as Assistant Professor at the Chair of Landscape Architecture, University of Wageningen (WUR), the Netherlands. January 2009 onwards he is Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore (NUS), working as director of the NUS Master of Landscape Architecture Programme.

Hwang Yun Hye
Landscape architect. Studied at Seoul National University, Graduate School of Design (GSE) and Harvard University, Graduate School of Design (GSD). Working experience as a chief designer on various planning and landscape design projects in Korea, SOMC from 2001-2007. Selected as the 'Design Leader of Next Generation (6th)', awarded by the Korean Ministry of Commerce and KIDP in 2007. Background in graphic design & teaching at Seoul Digital University as an Instructor of Concept Design in 2005, and from 2001-2007 at the Seoul Art College as an instructor of Basic Design. 2009 onwards she is teaching studios and detail design as an assistant professor at National University Singapore (NUS).

Stefan Bernard
Stefan studied architecture at IUAV in Venice before he was educated as a landscape architect in Vienna and Berlin. Since 2001 he has been working as a free lance landscape architect (www.bernardsattler.de). Major realizations include the redesign of open spaces of Eberbach Monastery (2004-2013) and the Garden at Hessian State Representation (Berlin, 2007). As author and lecturer Stefan seeks to reflect the particular design conditions in landscape architecture. In 2003, together with Hans Loidl, he published “Opening spaces – Design as Landscape Architecture“. At present Stefan is attending the graduated program “design and construction” at TU Berlin where he is doing research on perception and landscape design.

Otto Fung Wai Chan

Landscape architect and founder of Singapore Institute of Landscape Architects. Graduated from Utah State University and worked as landscape architect at the Parks and Recreation Department from 1972 to 1985, senior landscape architect at the National Parks Board from 1986 to 2004, and associate director at Ong and Ong Pte Ltd from 2005 to 2007. From 2008 onwards he is working as a landscape consultant and now teaching as adjunct senior lecturer at the Department of Architecture, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore.

S. K. Ganesan
S. K. Ganesan has been in the field of urban forestry and arboriculture since 1990. He is with National Parks Board, Singapore as the Deputy Director of Landscaping and Arboriculture and is the founding president of the Singapore Arboriculture Society. He has contributed to regional floras and is an authority on the genus Firmiana in the family Malvacaeae. For his work on tropical tree botany he was elected as a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 2006. He is also on the Panel of Tree Experts of the International Society of Arboriculture in the development of a tree inspector’s qualification. One of his aims is to reflect the rich biodiversity of the South East Asian flora in urban landscapes in order to promote the appreciation, understanding and ultimately conservation of this wonderful flora.

Shawn. K. Y. Lum
AB, 1985 Harvard. PhD, 1993 California (Berkeley) Botanical Society of America. American Society of Plant Systematists. Nature Society (Singapore). Singapore Institute of Biology Plant. Research interest : Evolutionary Ecology, Population Genetics, Conservation Biology. Teaching Course : CAB 201 Diversity and Evolution of Plants, CEM 101 Environmental Studies and Global Issues, CGE 186 Conservation and Management of Natural Habitats, GL08 Human Origins and Migrations, GL07 Environment for Sustainable Development.

Philip Paar

Landscape planner and 3D modelling and visualisation expert, studied at the Technical University Berlin (TUB). Research assistant at German Federal Agency for Nature Protection (BFN, 1996), and Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF, 1997 to 2002). Project manager of the joint research project on computer graphics assisted landscape planning (New Media for Landscape Planning – Lenné3D). Co-founder and managing director of the visualisation & software company Lenné3D from 2005 to 2009. Occasionally, visiting researcher or lecturer, e.g. Chair of Landscape Architecture, University of Wageningen (WUR), University of Applied Sciences Eberswalde (FHE), and Anhalt University of Applied Sciences (HSA). 2009 onwards visiting fellow at National Singapore University (NUS) introducing GIS, landscape modelling, and visualisation to MLA students. April 2010 onwards co-founder and managing director of the computer graphics start-up Laubwerk – Digital Botany.

Bianca Maria Rinaldi
Bianca Maria Rinaldi, architect, studied Architecture at the University of Camerino. From 2002 to 2004 she was research Fellow at the Center of Garden Art and Landscape Architecture (CGL), University of Hanover. She received her Ph.D. in Landscape Architecture at the University of Hanover in 2004. From 2005 to 2008 she was Assistant Professor at the Institute for Landscape Architecture, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna. Since 2009 she is Assistant Professor at the Institute for Architecture and Landscape, Graz University of Technology. Her research focuses upon history and theory of landscape architecture, with an emphasis on Far East Asia.

Veera Sekaran

Botanist, Horticulturist and Arborist with more than 28 years field experience in landscapes and environmental projects. Was an Assistant Director in NParks, Head of Horticulture in Changi Airport, Assistant Curator of Horticulture for the Zoo and Night Safari. Former Director in a large landscape company. Currently, Managing Director of Greenology Pte Ltd. Specializing in design and build of Vertical Greening, Roof greening, design and build of Rain Gardens and Bioswales. Offering consultancies in Botany, Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Design and other landscape related technical expertise.

Henry Steed

Henry Steed is the Principal Design Director of ICN Design International, a firm of Landscape Architects based in Singapore. During the thirty two years that Henry Steed has practiced in Asia, he has established a reputation as one of the region’s foremost landscape designers, and has won numerous landscape awards. His work has taken him from his origins in the UK to the Middle East and across Asia giving him experience in temperate, arid, semi-arid, sub-tropical, tropical and equatorial environments.
Henry’s philosophy is “Man in Balance with Nature”, which can only be achieved when our rush to urbanise and develop is tempered by the conservation of natural environments and the re-introduction of Nature into our daily lives.

Wolfgang Wende
Landscape planner, studied at the Technical University Berlin (TUB) Germany. 1998 – 1999 Doctorate Fellowship of the State of Berlin for Young Scientists. 1999 – 2006 Scientific Assistant at the Department for Landscape Planning and Environmental Impact Assessment TUB. Doctorate from TUB in 2001. 2006 – 2008 Visiting Professor at TU Berlin. 2008 – 2009 Scientific Assistant at the Federal Environment Agency Germany. Since 2010 full Professor for Urban Development at the Technical University of Dresden and Head of Research Area Landscape Change and Management at the Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development Germany. 2009 Visiting Professor at the NUS.