STORY

On a  front step in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, landscape architect Martin Hjerl and architect and urban planner Rosa Lund met in 2015 for a conversation about how landscapes and urban spaces play a crucial role in solving the challenges of the future.
The conversation was also about how to organize a professional community built on mutual trust, equality, and transparency – a creative workshop where process and relationships are just as important as the final result. That became the beginning of STED.
The conversation never ended; it became the backbone of STED, and every single day we continue the dialogue, both across our community and with our collaborators, in recognition of and belief in the fact that no two places are alike or unchangeable.

Today, STED is a multidisciplinary design studio where landscape architects and urban planners work closely together to create new, as well as strengthen and preserve existing, landscapes and urban spaces, masterplans, and strategic plans. We work in close collaboration with each other, our clients, and our partners. Our size allows everyone to be involved throughout the entire process – from the first insights to the final detail. We combine strategic overview with creative drive, and we insist on creating solutions that are functional, poetic, and site-specific.

By cultivating and amplifying what already exists, we create places that don’t feel accidental, but necessary. Places where one can belong.
Since 2022, we have been part of Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects, but we continue to operate as an independent brand and professional environment – with closeness, dialogue, and a sense of place as our guiding principles.

HOW WE WORK – Our method, focus, and practice

Relationships are the foundation of our practice
At STED, relationships are not something we add – they are the core. We work with relationships between people, between people and places, and between people and nature. It is within relationships that understanding arises, and change begins.
Relationships create ownership, open up our imagination, and anchor our work in something larger than ourselves. That is why we don’t just work with form, function, and aesthetics. We work with connections; between the professional and the human, between the large scale and the intimate.
We believe relationships are the foundation of the future – and that through them, we create places that endure. In everyday life, in community, and in the landscape.

We start with the place and its dialect
Our work always begins with the place itself; an investigation and analysis of what already exists, what can be seen with the naked eye, and everything that must be read between the lines.
With openness and curiosity, we read the structures, rhythms, and stories of the landscape and the city. We call this the place’s dialect. It consists of all the traces that climate, time, culture, and people have left behind, shaping the uniqueness of a place.

We design with the story as a common thread
Every project has a story that emerges in the early phase through analysis, dialogue, and research. The story creates coherence between idea and execution – from the overarching concept to the smallest detail.
When we choose materials, planting, furnishings, and lighting, we do so with the story as a filter. It is our compass – making it possible to create solutions with identity, meaning, and direction.

We think in wholes – and create connections
We work across disciplines and with a holistic approach. For us, urban planning, public spaces, and landscape are inseparably linked, and we see transformation as a natural part of the work, not as a separate tool.
We shape places where function, sensuousness, and social dynamics meet. We hold ourselves accountable to nature and its conditions, so we can develop solutions that are not only aesthetically robust but also create value within the contexts and systems the place is part of.

We transform with respect – and with an eye on the future
Transformation is a guiding principle. We believe that future sustainable solutions are created by working with what we already have – not by starting from scratch.
We further develop the structures and materials of a place with care and respect – and we see change as an opportunity rather than a limitation. For us, it is about strengthening connections; between new and old, between people and place, between everyday life and nature.

WHY WE DO IT – A step toward a more sustainable and meaningful future

We design with the climate as a basic condition
The climate crisis requires us to rethink how we build, consume, and design. At STED, we work with the place as a resource – with what already exists. We reuse materials, structures, and identities, and we see it as an architectural strength to create something new from what is already there.
When we transform instead of demolish, we create solutions that both reduce CO₂ and strengthen continuity and character – to the benefit of both people and nature.

We bring nature’s richness closer to everyday life
Biodiversity needs space, and that space is often found outside cities. But the city plays another role; it can give people access to the wild, the living, and the ever-changing.
We design urban spaces where the materiality and rhythms of nature can be felt. Not as a copy of the original, but as an interpretation that fits the city’s programs, demands for robustness, and intensity. When nature is given room – in the small and the close – we create connections that reach far, and value greater than the place itself.

We give water form and meaning
Rising sea levels, higher groundwater, and intense rainfall are conditions we cannot ignore. But they are not only problems – they are also opportunities. We integrate water management as part of a place’s spatial identity and function. Water should be seen, heard, and sensed. When it gathers in depressions, flows through corridors, or spreads across surfaces, it is not only managed – it is experienced.
In this way, climate adaptation becomes both functional and poetic.

We create places that strengthen connection and belonging
In a time marked by loneliness and disconnection, communities and attachment have gained new importance. We believe that places with strong identity and local anchoring can strengthen the social and mental landscape. By starting with the place’s own story, we create places where people feel at home – and where they want to spend time, take care of, and be part of.
We don’t just design spaces – we design relationships.