A metropolitan green lung. Zuidpark by Tractebel + ADR + Georges Descombes

Tractebel is an international engineering and consulting company based in Brussels, Belgium, with origins dating back to 1862. Currently led by Anne Harvengt, the company in its present form is the result of the gradual development and integration of several Belgian firms active in the fields of energy and infrastructure, including Tractionel and Electrobel, which merged in 1986. Since 2016, it has operated under the name Tractebel and is part of the ENGIE Group.

The company develops projects in energy, infrastructure and territorial development through multidisciplinary teams that bring together engineering, design, planning, environmental and social studies, project management and digital tools. Its work ranges from large-scale energy and hydraulic systems to complex buildings, transport infrastructure, port and maritime facilities, electricity and gas networks, data centres and projects related to climate resilience.

With an international presence and a team of more than 6,000 professionals, Tractebel works across a wide range of scales and contexts, combining technical expertise, coordination capacity and experience in highly complex projects. Nuclear energy, renewables, energy storage, hydropower, desalination and environmental adaptation are among the fields most closely connected to its work on the transformation of contemporary infrastructure.

Throughout its history, Tractebel has contributed to major energy and territorial projects. Today, a significant part of its activity is focused on the energy transition, decarbonisation and the development of infrastructure capable of responding to changing environmental, technological and social conditions.

ADR - Atelier Descombes Rampini is a landscape architecture and urban design practice founded in 2000 by Julien Descombes and Marco Rampini, based in Geneva, Switzerland. Specializing in large-scale urban and environmental planning, ADR develops projects ranging from regional development strategies to the design of public spaces and infrastructure.

With a strong track record in mobility planning and public space design—both in Switzerland and abroad—ADR’s portfolio includes master plans for areas such as Eaux-Vives (Geneva) and Cherpines, as well as iconic public spaces like the Plaine de Plainpalais in Geneva and Turbinenplatz in Zurich. The firm is distinguished by its sensitive approach to both urban and natural contexts, exemplified by projects such as the revitalization of the Aire River and the Eaux-Vives beach.

ADR emphasizes the creation of inclusive, multifunctional public spaces that reflect a deep understanding of social use, environmental impact, and material design. Its projects aim to foster a dynamic, collective urban culture, reimagining the landscape and public space as settings for everyday life and shared identity.

Georges Descombes (Geneva, Switzerland, 1939) is an architect and landscape architect. He graduated from the École d’Architecture de Genève in 1969 and continued his studies at the Architectural Association in London, where he received his diploma in 1973. After an early professional period connected to figures such as Pier Luigi Nervi and Marc-Joseph Saugey, he returned to Geneva, where he began an extensive professional, academic and research career.

His work operates between architecture, landscape and territorial transformation, with particular attention to existing traces, memory and the processes of change that shape each place. Rather than treating landscape as a finished image, Descombes works with existing conditions, understanding territory as a superimposition of layers and design as a tool capable of revealing latent relationships, traces and processes.

Among his most significant works are Parc de Lancy in Geneva, the Geneva section of the Voie Suisse on Lake Uri, the Bijlmer Memorial in Amsterdam, Parc de la Cour du Maroc in Paris, and a number of urban interventions in cities including Lyon, Brussels and Antwerp. One of his best-known projects is the renaturalisation of the Aire River in the canton of Geneva, developed with the Superpositions team. The project works with the former canalised riverbed by introducing a new geometric structure within which the river progressively reshapes its own course, becoming a reference in contemporary landscape architecture.

Alongside his professional practice, Descombes has developed an extensive teaching career in Europe and the United States, with appointments and courses at institutions including the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the University of Virginia and the University of California, Berkeley. In 2021, he received the Grand Prix suisse d’art / Prix Meret Oppenheim, one of the principal cultural distinctions awarded by the Swiss Confederation.