The news came as a surprise on 4 December via the Alumni Club Landschaft (ACL) at the Technical University of Munich, in the form of an obituary written by Prof. Regine Keller. Our much-esteemed Prof. Christoph Valentien passed away on 2 December 2025.
We, the bdla Bavaria and its members, mourn the loss of a remarkable individual, a confident and visionary designer, landscape architect and professor.
When one
thinks of the works he has created at the Valentien + Valentien practice, it is striking how pioneering they are, particularly for our times, when terms such as climate adaptation, green-blue infrastructure and biodiversity have suddenly risen to the top of the agenda.
Take, for instance, the outdoor spaces at the State Office for the Environment (LfU) in Augsburg, dating from the 1990s – with their nature-oriented design, species-rich rough pastures, natural stone and a rainwater management system that deserves the now-crucial label ‘nature-based’.
Other sites spring to mind which aesthetically showcase design elements with a certain ruggedness and unvarnished simplicity, thereby bringing nature closer to people.
Christoph Valentien set new standards in urban planning, for example with the ‘Grüne Finger’ (Green Fingers), which extend from the Riem Landscape Park into the residential area and branch out there in ever finer detail. These, too, date from the early 1990s. Climate adaptation, as we advocate it today.
Christoph Valentien, the man and the teacher, as I experienced and perceived him, was a man of quiet demeanour, possessing charm, warmth and wit. Not one for grand words or gestures. He enjoyed focused, lively and always engaging conversation.
For me, an almost iconic image: at a party in the institute building, he leans on the balustrade on the first floor to enjoy the scene in the atrium from above. Smiling mischievously, with a twinkle in his eyes, a glass of red wine in his hand.
A man who radiated joy, who was simply there and who gave so much to all of us and to our craft.
We thank Prof. Christoph Valentien for his dedicated service and pay our respects to him. Our thoughts are with his wife Donata and the whole family.
Dr Johannes Gnädinger, First Chairman of bdla Bavaria
, 14 December 2025
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