Topiaris is a Lisbon-based landscape architecture studio founded in 1988 by Luis Ribeiro and Teresa Barão. With over 30 years of experience, Topiaris has worked in diverse geographical and cultural settings, with diverse scales of intervention, ranging from landscape planning, the design of urban parks, public spaces, and the restoration of historic sites, to the contemporary design of institutional areas, tourist facilities, and private gardens.
Luis Ribeiro was born in Luanda, Angola, in 1963. He holds a degree in Landscape Architecture from the Higher Institute of Agronomy of the Technical University of Lisbon. He also holds a PhD from the University of Massachusetts (USA, 1997), where he defended his doctoral thesis on "The Cultural Landscape and the Uniqueness of Place: A Network of Greenways for Landscape Conservation in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area."
He is a founding partner of Topiaris (1988) and coordinates large-scale projects in diverse geographical contexts, such as the Municipal Master Plan for M'Banza Congo in Angola (2013) and the Sovereigns' Park in Luanda (Angola). He regularly collaborates with the Island Planning Corporation on landscaping projects, such as the "City of Democracy" in Libreville (Gabon), and on housing competitions in Switzerland.
He is an expert in the restoration of historic gardens and has coordinated major projects such as the Tropical Botanical Garden in Lisbon, the Santana Gardens (headquarters of the Regional Government of the Azores), and the António Borges Gardens, both in Ponta Delgada (Azores). He has taught Landscape Theory, Planning, and Design at the Instituto Superior de Agronomía since 1999. He directs the Master's and Doctorate in Humanities (PdH) programs in the Department of Landscape Architecture and was a professor from 2009 to 2013.
He is co-founder of the Professor Caldeira Cabral Center for Landscape Architecture Research. He is a regular visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts, where he recently received an award at the 6th Fabos Conference for the excellence of his work in greenway planning and design. He also teaches at the Galician School of Landscape/Juana de Veja Foundation (University of Santiago de Compostela/University of Galicia), the Czech University of Life Sciences, and the University of Milan/University of Genoa.
Luis Ribeiro is a member of the Portuguese Association of Landscape Architects and co-founder of the Portuguese Greenway Association. She has published regularly in various magazines in Europe, the United States, South Korea, and China since 1987.
Teresa Barão was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1962. She holds a degree in Landscape Architecture from the Higher Institute of Agronomy/Technical University of Lisbon.
She co-founded Topiaris (1988) and is responsible for the coordination and supervision of landscape architecture plans, studies, and projects, both in Portugal and abroad. With Topiaris, she develops projects with an innovative formal approach based on the dynamics of the dunes and local vegetation, specifically the Comporta Garden (1st Prize at the 2011 Portuguese Landscape Architecture Awards) and the Tagus Linear Park in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (1st Prize at the 2015 Archmarathon Awards, 1st Prize at the 2016 WAN Awards; Bronze Medal at the American Architecture Masterprize, 2016).
In the tourism sector, he is responsible for the coordination of major projects such as the Aman Resort in Comporta (with IPC, Denniston & Risco) and the Six Senses Douro Valley Hotel (with RA & Clodagh Design). He is also responsible for planning and projects for Long Island, USA (Shou Sugi Ban House in the Hamptons), Mozambique (Aga Khan Academy), and East Timor (Hera University Campus).
He began his professional career in 1987 at EDP (Empresa Eléctrica de Portugal), developing a pioneering landscape integration project for a new power plant in Pego, Abrantes. In 1996, while still working for EDP, he coordinated the Landscape Project for the Puertollano Power Plant in Spain.
In 1995, in collaboration with the University of Aveiro and the Instituto Superior Técnico, she participated in the Pena Park Reforestation, Recovery, and Management Program, within the framework of the Preservation and Redevelopment Program of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park (UNESCO website).
She is a member of the Portuguese Association of Landscape Architects and co-founder of the National Association of Green Corridors. Since 1987, she has regularly published articles in specialized journals in Europe, the United States, South Korea, and China.
The firm's body of work reflects a holistic philosophy where all elements intertwine and are essential to the whole, inducing intuitive feel for life, harmonious relationships between people and their environments, and shaping a strong sense of place, integrating local communities throughout the design process.
Topiaris engagement with biodiversity conservation, natural systems functioning, and sustainable management of natural resources are basic project premises, as well as principles of simplicity and organic sources, aligned with a creative approach to site constraints offering opportunities for a distinctive design, based on authenticity and clarification of motives.
Fostering the ever-evolving landscape processes of evolution in line with natural processes allows Topiaris to achieve mature landscapes, economically and ecologically viable, optimizing the costs of construction and maintenance, hence real sustainability.
Recognizing the responsibility towards present and future generations, Topiaris work reflects creativity in the search of sustainable design solutions, aiming to add ecological, aesthetic, and social values to all projects. Topiaris always bring in the fourth dimension, that of Time, as the way the project will evolve along time is the most reliable indicator of a project's true value.
Topiaris strives towards the creation of individual and collective memories that may stand the test of time and strengthen communities. Our focus remains unquestionably upon people, as it is for them that we conceive and plan new projects, and for them that we defend he natural and cultural heritage of landscapes.
