kruh jaro 2025 - Georges Descombes + Klára Salzmann

During the June lecture evening, Swiss architect Georges Descombes will present his approach to landscape regeneration and public space in a lecture entitled Not Ideas, Only Things Itself. The title is inspired by the poetics of William Carlos Williams, specifically the phrase “No ideas but in things” from the poem Paterson and reflects a focus on process and tangible results.
Using the example of the restoration of the Aire River in Geneva, Descombes will outline his two-part approach. The project connects the former canal with a new riverbed and creates a public space that serves as both an outdoor laboratory and a stage for public debate. The aim is to transcend the boundaries of specialist discourse and engage a broader audience in observing and critically evaluating the ongoing experiment. A central element of Descombes’ work is a design based on process – understanding design as an ever-evolving approach, rooted in observation and interaction with the place and its context.
Alongside Georges Descombes, Czech landscape architect Klára Salzmann will present her approach to systemic water regeneration in the landscape as a key prerequisite for our life, biodiversity, and public space. Her lecture Rivers Do Not Flow Around Us, but Through Us: A Fascination with River Landscapes builds on the legacy of Prof. O. Štěrba, who defined the significance and complexity of river landscapes in the Czech lands.
In her presentation, she will point out the phenomenon of water, which is today perceived primarily as a source of life and a basis for human activities. However, water also shapes our Earth and follows its own, precisely defined pathways. History shows that attempts to change these givens and ignore the dynamics of natural processes do not yield sustainable long-term results. So, what options do we have for survival in our landscape without jeopardizing the very essence of our existence and spirit? Klára Salzmann focuses her work on finding models that enable a harmonious coexistence of humans and the living world around us.
 
The lecture will be conducted in English.
 
Georges Descombes lives and works in Geneva. He studied architecture in Geneva, Zurich, and London (AAGS). He has lectured at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Geneva, the Berlage Institute, and as a visiting professor at Harvard GSD, the University of Virginia's School of Architecture, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Rapperswil School of Landscape Architecture. He actively lectures across Europe, the USA, Israel, China, and South America. He has long focused on landscape regeneration and the connection of architecture with the natural evolution of places. His projects include the park in Lancy, the Bijlmer Memorial in Amsterdam, and the Parc de la Cour du Maroc in Paris. He is currently working on projects in Geneva, Lyon, Brussels, and Antwerp, often in collaboration with the Geneva studio ADR. A central element of his approach is understanding design as a process – not a fixed plan, but an ever-evolving dialogue between the design and the place itself.

Klára Salzmann lives and works in the Brdy mountains in the Czech southwest. She studied landscape architecture in Budapest and Nitra. At the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague, she leads the Large Landscape Scales Studio within the landscape architecture program. She is involved in landscape planning for the cities of Banská Bystrica, Plzeň – St. George's Park, Blovice, Spálené Poříčí, Zbiroh, and many municipalities. She gives lectures for mayors across the country. In 2015, she implemented a landscape restoration project in the Czech-German border area as part of the model municipality of Výškovice.