Piet Oudolf designs Perennial Garden for Vitra Campus

Piet Oudolf, the Dutch landscape designer born in 1944, has been commissioned to create the Perennial Garden at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany. Construction began weeks ago. The garden covers 4,000 square meters between the VitraHaus and the Álvaro Siza-designed production facility, featuring approximately 30,000 plants with staggered bloom times and life cycles. Oudolf described the garden as not merely decorative for the surrounding architecture but integrative, offering a new perspective. A labyrinthine path encourages visitors to get lost rather than pass through quickly. The garden is expected to begin revealing itself in September under favorable weather conditions. Oudolf emphasized that his work is not a static painting but one that grows and changes over time. Vitra's chairman emeritus Rolf Fehlbaum noted that landscape architecture was not a priority in the campus's early decades, but with the Perennial Garden, the campus gains a new dimension and an evolving visitor experience. Oudolf is known for projects including the gardens at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, the Serpentine Galleries park, the Giardino delle Vergini in Venice, and the High Line in New York.