Kobe Vanhaeren (born 1980) is a certified landscape architect from KASK Royal Academy of Fine Arts of the University College Ghent, with additional training in Environmental Sciences from the University of Antwerp.
He specializes in guiding multiple stakeholders through complex design processes, translating these processes into detailed, nuanced plans that harmonize natural systems with urban social contexts. He combines delicate design exercises with solid technical foundations to create financially viable and executable resilient urban landscapes.
He balances his landscape architecture practice with policy work on nature-based solutions and academic roles, teaching landscape architecture design at KASK Royal Academy of Fine Arts, University College Ghent.
Kobe refined his design skills and execution project knowledge at Proap (Lisbon) and Bureau Bas Smets (Brussels), and as the owner of BXLX Landscape Architecture. From 2012 to 2016, he led the Landscape Architecture department at BURO II & ARCHI+I (Brussels).
Since 2017, Kobe has worked as Senior Project Leader and Team Manager at BUUR Part of SWECO, contributing to projects such as the 25ha Eco-Quartier Coronmeuse (Liège), the Floodplain Park Hoekakker in Antwerp, the Covering of the Antwerp Ringroad, the green roofs of Proximus headquarters in Brussels, and the Demineralisation Strategy for Brussels’ Regional Roads. As Team Manager he oversees landscape projects in French-speaking Belgium and Northern France.
Previously, Kobe worked on various projects including the Master Plan for the 7.7km Scheldekaaien, the award-winning design for the Laaglandpark in Merksem (Antwerp, 422ha), the Eco-district Tweewaters (Leuven), the landscaping for the new hospital in Knokke, the redevelopment of Village Centre in Ternat, a residential brownfield conversion in Brussels (EKLA), and several major infrastructure projects in collaboration with SBE NV in Liège.
Through award-winning projects like Lisboa Horizontal and the development of a bike GPS system, he seeks connections between smart city technology, urban planning, topography, and sustainable mobility.
Since 2014, he has been a lecturer in landscape architecture design practice at the KASK Royal Academy of Fine Arts of the University College Ghent, guiding the Bachelor Final Design Studios, teaching the technical, administrative and cost calculation process between Design and Execution, and teaching Design Theory and Design Studios in the Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning postgraduate programs.
Kobe is fluent in Dutch, French, English, and Portuguese.
BXLX Landscape Architecture 