Bart Brands (1962) is a landscape architect and a partner in Karres en Brands. He founded the agency together with Sylvia Karres in 1997. Bart sees the agency as a design agency that is driven by craftsmanship and passion. Tasks range from realizing large-scale projects to devising concepts related to landscape architecture, urban development, and architecture. Bart has the capability to generate ideas and inspire clients and colleagues like no other. He prefers not to pigeon-hole the agency into any category and is particularly interested in innovative, contemporary, and out-of-the-box projects.
Bart studied landscape architecture at Rijks Hogere School voor Tuin- en Landschapsinrichting in Boskoop, followed by several years of urban planning at the Academy of Architecture in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Since the agency was founded, he has played a significant role in many of its designs, including Federation Square in Melbourne, Købmagergade in Copenhagen, the recent development of the Zanders master plan in Bergisch Gladbach, and the master plan for Oberbillwerder in Hamburg.
Bart also works as a professor at Detmolder Schule für Gestaltung and shares his knowledge with and seeks cooperation from a new generation of designers. In addition, he was also Professor in Practice at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design between 2019 and 2020, adjunct professor at RMIT University in Melbourne between 1998 and 2014, and visiting lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Bart is a frequent member of the jury at international competitions and awards, including Berlin TXL – The Urban Tech Republic and, more recently the Rathaus-und-Marx-Engels-Forum, both in Berlin. He has been the supervisor of various projects, including the Delft University of Technology campus, InnovA58 motorway, and the Science Park in Amsterdam.