Doing a PhD - Kati Wolff

Finland's post-war cities and reconstruction were influenced by garden architect Katri Luostarinen (1915–1991), who was also Finland's first landscape architecture professor. The PhD presentation focuses on her influences, early career and on nature-based design projects in Rovaniemi, Seinäjoki, and Kajaani in northern Finland.

Luostarinen's education in Potsdam-Berlin between 1938 and 1944, under Karl Foerster and Heinrich Friedrich Wiepking-Jürgesmann, influenced her, but she also admired designers such as Mien Ruys and Mirei Shigemori. Her love of forestry, naturalistic perennials and pragmatism are central to her books Kukkiva pihamaa ja tuottoisa kasvitarha (Blooming yard and fruitful kitchen garden), 1945, and Puutarha ja Maisema (Garden and Landscape), 1951.

Already in the beginning of her career, Luostarinen inspired many of her employees to study landscape architecture abroad. Two of them, Pirkko Higson (Hari) and Paula Marttila, studied at Reading University from 1956 to 1959.

Archival research and theme interviews have been a central method in the PhD process. Luostarinen's archive covers about 700 works. Her early designs show that nature-based design has deep historical roots, establishing her as one of the pioneers whose work continues to influence current landscape practices.