The hanging gardens occupy the central courtyard of a boutique hotel in the centre of London. More than five hundred climbers grow in the channel beams of the suspended walkways. The plants bring a unique atmosphere to the courtyard while providing privacy towards the hotel rooms.

Year: 2014 – 2017
Client: Newman Assets
Architect: Manolo & White
Photographs: (1,2,3) Adrien Fouéré
Photographs: (5,6) David Grandorge

The dike of the left bank of the Scheldt needs to be raised because of rising water levels. These infrastructural works become the opportunity to rethink the left bank as a linear park of more 7km. The park allocates more space to both nature and recreation, connected by continuous meandering pathways.

Year: 2021 – 2027
Client: City of Antwerp
Design Team: Bureau Bas Smets
In collaboration with: ARA, AGT, Plant&Houtgoed, Billie Bonkers, Vectris, Rebelgroup, Equator

Five continuous lines in blue stone reveal the beautifully curved façades of this plaza. The daily market and the outdoor terraces are organised in the resulting bands made with reused blue stone pavers from the former sidewalks. A collection of trees brings colour, shade and fragrance to the plaza. 

Year: 2013 – 2018
Client: Municipality of Saint-Gilles
Landscape Architect: Bureau Bas Smets
Photographs: Michiel De Cleene

The former industrial railyard in the centre of Brussels is transformed into large park, imagined as a river valley. The ballast of the former tracks is stored underground to retain rainwater, while fast-growing pioneer trees on its banks start the ecological succession of this park in constant evolution.

Year: 2012 – ongoing
Client: Nextensa
Landscape Architect: Bureau Bas Smets
Photographs : Michiel De Cleene

Thirty-two trees have been planted around a stone circle in a natural clearing of the Sonian forest. The trees and stones of the memorial isolate a circular area in the forest as place to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attacks in Brussels of 2016.

Year: 2016 – 2017
Client: Brussels Capital Region
Landscape Architect: Bureau Bas Smets
Photographs: Michiel De Cleene

The central business district along the Part-Dieu railway station is charactereised by high rise buildings. The project looks for fertile soil to plant as many trees as possible to create a new green horizon amid the sky-scrapers.

Year: 2015 – 2021
Client: Lyon Part-Dieu
Landscape Architect: Bureau Bas Smets
Urbanist: l’AUC
Photograph (5): Thierry Fournier
Photograph (6): Laurence Danière

The refurbishment of the courtyard of the old prison is centred around four existing trees. A series of large circular benches provide generous seating opportunity in their shade, while giving their roots more place to grow.

Year: 2021
Client: The Jockey Club CPS Limited
Landscape Architect: Bureau Bas Smets
Architect: Beau Architects
Photographs : Leon Xu Liang

A series of seven monuments, dispersed over the Belgian territory, remembers the victims of the Covid crisis. Each of them is a mutated variation of a broken circle. Together they form a family of interconnected places for solace and silence. In Gent, the monument is a first act in the gradual transformation of a former field into a biodiverse forest.

Year: 2021 – 2022
Client: Moving Closer & Kunstwerkt
Landscape Architect: Bureau Bas Smets
Photographs (1, 2, 3): Michiel De Cleene
Photographs (7, 8): City of Gent

The green buffer between a motorway interchange and a residential area is made by the plantation of one thousand trees. Different species are planted according to different grids, creating an accessible arboretum.

Year: 2011 – 2012
Client: City of Antwerp
Landscape Architect: Bureau Bas Smets
Photographs: Michiel De Cleene

A pedestrian promenade connects the city hall with a new library, bridging a height difference of four meters. Two large staircases planted with trees provide access and light to the parking garage underneath, while water jets become a new destination on the promenade above.

Year: 2010 – 2017
Client: City of Waregem
Landscape Architect: Bureau Bas Smets
Architect: Robbrecht&Daem, Goedefroo+Goedefroo
Photographs: Michiel De Cleene