Paolo Bürgi: the landscaper of rigour and horizon
Most failed gardens are the result of excess — too many plants, too many materials, too much of everything. Paolo Bürgi has spent his career demonstrating the opposite: that emotion in a landscape does not come from abundance, but from precision. This Swiss landscaper is one of the European masters of 'less, but exactly right'. Here is who he is, and why his rigour has so much to teach us.
A Ticinese, between alpine rigour and Latin culture
Paolo Bürgi was born in 1947 in Muralto, in Ticino — this Italian-speaking part of Switzerland where Latin culture meets alpine precision. He graduated as a landscape architect from the School of Engineering in Rapperswil in 1975, with a first prize, and then founded his own studio, Studio Bürgi, in Camorino in 1977 — not far from Lake Maggiore.
But Bürgi is not just a practitioner: he is also an influential teacher. He has been a visiting professor at the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania since 1997, at the IUAV University of Venice since 2003, and at the Politecnico di Milano since 2015. This dual role as creator and educator has nurtured a demanding, recognised thought: he is now considered one of the most respected landscapers in Europe.
His philosophy: reveal the place, intervene as little as possible
To understand Paolo Bürgi, one must forget the image of the gardener who plants flowers 'to make it pretty'. His approach is based on three ideas.
Reveal the place.Bürgi does not impose an arbitrary form. He seeks to reveal what is already there but no longer seen: a topography, a geological history, a particular light. His work essentially consists of giving a voice back to the site.
To intervene as little as possible.His principle could be summarised as follows: do little, but with absolute precision. Geometry, for him, does not serve to dominate nature — it serves to create a contrast. A single clear line, in stone or metal, is enough to better feel, by contrast, the living disorder of a forest or the curve of a mountain.
To bring the landscape to life through the body.For Bürgi, a landscape is not just to be looked at, it is to be felt: the texture of the ground underfoot, the sound of footsteps, the sensation in front of a panorama. Everything is designed to awaken the senses of the walker.
Two works that say it all
Cardada, above Locarno.This is his most well-known project — a work of "reconsideration of a mountain", awarded the European Landscape Award in 2003. Tasked with enhancing the mountain for the people of Locarno, Bürgi did not create an amusement park. He traced a promontory made of granite slabs that extends between the treetops, and, higher up, a geological observatory that inscribes the tectonic history of the Alps into the ground. He added almost nothing: he framed the mountain so that one can finally, truly see it.
The Esplanade of Particles, at CERN.Near Geneva, the Bürgi Studio won the international competition for the design of the entrance to the famous physics laboratory. The project, namedMetaphoros— a Greek word that means transport, journey, communication — is a vast mineral esplanade, inaugurated in 2018, that connects the welcome building to the Globe of Science and Innovation. Once again: an abstract and sober landscape that tells the story of the place rather than decorating it.
What his approach inspires in us
The lesson from Paolo Bürgi is one of the most directly translatable to a private garden — precisely because it does not require adding, but choosing.
It invites us tocreate sharp contrasts: a mown, straight and precise path in the midst of a lush meadow, and the whole garden gains strength. Tolimit ourselves to few materials: a single well-chosen surface, maintained from one end to the other, establishes the calm that an accumulation destroys. Tocare for the thresholds— the transition from the terrace to the lawn, from one space to another — as moments in their own right. And toframe the viewsrather than show everything: conceal what detracts, open a window to the most beautiful tree.
It is exactly this discipline of restraint that we implement at Vert Val, in the gardens we design in Brabant Wallon and Brussels: not to do a lot, but to do it right.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Paolo Bürgi?
Paolo Bürgi, born in 1947 in Muralto (Ticino), is a Swiss landscape architect, regarded as one of the great figures of contemporary landscape in Europe. He runs Studio Bürgi, founded in Camorino in 1977, and teaches notably at the University of Pennsylvania and IUAV in Venice.
What is Paolo Bürgi's most well-known project?
It is the development of the Cardada mountain, above Locarno: a promontory of granite slabs extending between the trees and a geological observatory, which earned it the European Landscape Award in 2003.
What is landscape minimalism?
It is an approach that favours restraint and precision over abundance: few elements, but perfectly chosen and placed, to reveal the character of a place rather than overloading it. Paolo Bürgi is one of its major figures.
How can this approach be applied in a private garden?
By seeking accuracy rather than quantity: creating a sharp contrast (a precise path in a meadow), limiting oneself to one or two materials, taking care with transitions between spaces, and framing beautiful views rather than exposing everything.
In summary
Paolo Bürgi writes the landscape in free verse, but with a strict grammar. His work reminds us that, in the face of ambient visual noise, the strongest response is often the most sober. In one of his places, one does not say "what beautiful plants" — one says "how good it feels here, facing this horizon".
