radical optimism

On the one hand, the firm is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2026 and reflecting on its projects from the 1950s and 1960s with a series of large-format black-and-white photographs.

It is aware of its roots and understands them as the basis for further development. Adapting our living spaces to the consequences of climate change requires doubling the amount of tree-covered and unsealed open spaces. Vegetation, especially urban trees, plays a central role in this. The exhibition therefore focuses on the subsoil as the root space of vegetation and aims to sensitise visitors to the importance of this invisible element. To illustrate the extent of the roots of a 30-year-old tree, a 24 m3 container stands in the middle of the exhibition. Videos produced at the Jülich Research Centre show the aesthetic potential of growing root systems.

The term ‘optimism’ also ties in with the genesis of the office and draws parallels with the vegetative optimism of young roots. In general, optimism refers to a cheerful, confident and life-affirming attitude as well as positive expectations about future developments – even without any certainty. For RMPSL, this attitude is an important value in project and office development.

For RMPSL, the combination of both terms also has a social dimension. Despite justified disappointments, the networked and systemic transformation that literally goes back to the roots opens up the chance for a positive future. However, RMPSL does not understand this as blind optimism, but in the sense of Ernst Bloch as ‘optimism with a black ribbon’. Their credo is: We must rethink the urban underground of cities: Let's give the roots space and together create a strong network of green, blue and diverse infrastructure for liveable cities of the future!

Heinrich Raderschall founded the office in Bonn in 1951, and in 1971 the RMP office partnership was formed by Heinrich Raderschall, Carl Möhrer and Friedrich-Wilhelm Peters. Stephan Lenzen joined the office in 1999 and has been its sole owner since 2004. Today, RMPSL has 85 employees and branches in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Mannheim. Its most important projects include Dycker Feld (2002), the Federal Horticultural Show in Koblenz (2011), Talauenpark Waibligen (2019) and Grünzug Nordost + Klimapark Mannheim (2023). RMPSL is currently planning, among other things, the State Garden Shows in Windsheim (2027) and Günzburg (2029), the Town Hall and Marx-Engels Forum in Berlin (2027) and the Elbinselquartier in Hamburg (2028). Stephan Lenzen is president of the bdla Bund Deutscher Landschaftsarchitekten (Association of German Landscape Architects) and teaches at the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences.



Exhibition: 13 March – 18 April 2026

Opening: 12 March 2026, 7 p.m.

Welcome: Ulrich Müller, Architektur Galerie Berlin

Introduction: Prof. Dr. Stephan Berg, former director of the Kunstmuseum Bonn