Herbert Dreiseitl

Herbert Dreiseitl (born 1955) is a sculptor, artist, landscape architect and interdisciplinary urban planner.

He founded the firm Atelier Dreiseitl in 1980 with a vision to develop liveable cities inspired by a deep understanding of water.

After founding his studio Atelier Dreiseitl, Dreiseitl worked on his first stormwater management plan in 1981 in a new suburb in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In the following 40 years, his consultancy has completed many dozens of projects, ranging from modest water features to large-scale water management systems, including Renzo Piano's Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Norman Foster's McLaren Technology Centre in London and the SolarCity Linz, Austria.

In 2021, the town where his offices are located hosted the biennial Regional Garden Show in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

Although his consultancy did not win the bid to design the entire grounds, Dreiseitl designed and implemented a popular attraction for the 6-month long garden show which involved a temporary floating platform extending from the shore out onto Lake Constance.

In 2011, Dreiseitl was appointed to a Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

As a Loeb Fellow, he explored the history of water and society, the changing exogenous water security environments, and design tools for managing global water-related risks.

Dreiseitl is a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore, where he focusses on both teaching and research.

Through his consultancy Dreiseitl runs workshops and pilot projects and gives speeches to encourage cities to implement better solutions to current urban challenges.

Dreiseitl is a member of his town's branch of the political party Alliance 90/The Greens.

In 2013, the studio was acquired by the Danish-based international consultancy group and continued under the name Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl.

Dreiseitl's office is located in Überlingen, Germany, still a local affiliate of Ramboll.

He has taught courses at the National University of Singapore and at Harvard University.

For Dreiseitl, landscape architecture is more than plants, sidewalks, planters, and ponds.

His approach focuses on water and its natural flow, not only as an aesthetic element, but also as a way to incorporate effective water-management infrastructure and to emphasise water's role as a significant ecological and social tool.

The humanistic aspect of his approach is recognised and respected by his peers because of its visible results.

Dreiseitl's philosophy has become particularly relevant at a time when climate change and water supply have been put high on the agenda of key institutions such as the IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and world governments and are named as two of the top five global risks facing companies today.

Herbert Dreiseitl has been described as, "the international doyen of landscape design with water".

Dreiseitl was born in Ulm, Germany, where he attended the Ulm Waldorf School.

He trained as an artist and did apprenticeships in England, Norway and Germany.

He was strongly influenced by the philosophies of Rudolf Steiner, Hugo Kükelhaus and Joseph Beuys.

During his period of alternative civilian service, Dreiseitl initiated an art therapy program for young drug addicts, which was so successful that he continued it for four years.

Whilst there, he recognised that for young people, the urban environment is very important for liveability and public health and based on this decided to work toward improving the conditions in cities.

Dreiseitl's expertise is in combining artistic aspects with environmental planning and implementation, especially with regards to water in an urban setting.

His work is considered to be at the cutting edge in urban hydrology and the treatment of waste and stormwater.

This involves realizing sustainable infrastructure which combines urban needs with space for nature and people.

To promote topics related to sustainable infrastructure, he founded the Liveable Cities Lab within the Ramboll Group.

His first major public work was an award-winning fountain for a new garden for the blind in Ulm, designed with the landscape architectal company Eppinger + Schmid.

In preparation for his design, Dreiseitl met regularly with a group of interested blind people to better understand how they experience the world without sight.

In May 2019 he was elected to the municipal council of Überlingen, where he is a member of various subcommittees in his areas of expertise.

Dreiseitl is married to Bettina Dreiseitl-Wanschura.

She has a master's degree in landscape ecology.

She works at Dreiseitlconsulting and is a founding partner in a planning consultancy in Vienna, Austria.

She is also a local member of the Green party and a member of Überlingen's municipal council.