A new landscape for landscape: meet ASPECT's Co-CEOs
Date: Feb 09, 2025
Category: People updates
ASPECT Studios has emerged as a major force in design, working around the world on a range of scales and typologies of a breadth that is rare for a landscape-focused design firm. To meet the challenges of the future, ASPECT Studios is pursuing a disruptive path, beginning by adopting a new co-CEO structure. The newly appointed co-CEOs, Adam Kiekebosch and Valter Vieira, must chart a course for ASPECT’s growth, while deciding how a company like ASPECT should operate in the face of disruptions that will impact the future of our cities, and redefine the future of landscape design as a discipline.
Adam and Valter take their new positions at a moment of transition for ASPECT. More established studios in Australia and China have been joined by new studios in Dubai, Ho Chi Minh City and London. What is the value of a global landscape practice at this point in time? Adam and Valter answer this by pointing to the strengths of the profession as a whole: landscape architects offer an expansive and holistic skillset that can anticipate and respond to the challenges posed by the 21st Century. ASPECT Studios embodies this diversity of ability, with an unmatched depth of talent and a proven track record of being able to make a positive impact.
“We think about the whole, rather than the individual part,” says Adam.
Adam and Valter take their new positions at a moment of transition for ASPECT. More established studios in Australia and China have been joined by new studios in Dubai, Ho Chi Minh City and London. What is the value of a global landscape practice at this point in time? Adam and Valter answer this by pointing to the strengths of the profession as a whole: landscape architects offer an expansive and holistic skillset that can anticipate and respond to the challenges posed by the 21st Century. ASPECT Studios embodies this diversity of ability, with an unmatched depth of talent and a proven track record of being able to make a positive impact.
“We think about the whole, rather than the individual part,” says Adam.
Valter Vieira (left) and Adam Kiekebosch (right)
Hyperlane, Chengdu, China | Photography: Lu Bing
The ASPECT way
The co-CEOs are eager for ASPECT Studios to lead the cause of landscape architecture worldwide. One of the reasons they believe the practice is well placed to do so is because the various studios around the world work in a collaborative, non-hierarchical way that is unique in international design.
“ASPECT Studios does not have a house style,” says Valter. “We are structured around our studios responding locally to the issues and narratives that shape their cities and regions. This makes each project unique, and allows our designers a great deal of freedom, backed by our global expertise.”
The pair hope to leverage the practice’s past projects in advocating not only for ASPECT but for the profession. A landscape-first perspective, they believe, is how design can best be used to improve people’s lives and repair the natural environment. It is for this reason that ASPECT happily works across scales – whether this be a small courtyard in a Sydney laneway, or at the level of a city-wide master plan in the Middle East.
“We’re big and small at the same time,” says Adam. “We have a breadth of ability and interests that is pretty unique.”
“ASPECT Studios does not have a house style,” says Valter. “We are structured around our studios responding locally to the issues and narratives that shape their cities and regions. This makes each project unique, and allows our designers a great deal of freedom, backed by our global expertise.”
The pair hope to leverage the practice’s past projects in advocating not only for ASPECT but for the profession. A landscape-first perspective, they believe, is how design can best be used to improve people’s lives and repair the natural environment. It is for this reason that ASPECT happily works across scales – whether this be a small courtyard in a Sydney laneway, or at the level of a city-wide master plan in the Middle East.
“We’re big and small at the same time,” says Adam. “We have a breadth of ability and interests that is pretty unique.”
Caufield to Dandenong Linear Park, Victoria, Australia | Photography: Peter Clarke
Growing our people
ASPECT is entering uncharted waters – very few independent landscape-focused design practices work at the same scale as ASPECT.
Vieira says that he wants a point of difference for ASPECT to be its emphasis on nurturing and supporting talent.
“We want ASPECT to be a platform for a career in landscape design. This should be a place where people can develop and grow successful and meaningful careers. Part of this involves pursuing significant projects that benefit people and the natural world, ” he said.
But, Adam adds, there is no desire to see ASPECT pursuing growth for its own sake.
“We aren’t aiming to be the biggest anything. Rather, for us it is all about making an impact, and having access to meaningful projects, the best talent, and working with like-minded clients. Our growth is and should always be about our people and creating value for our clients.”
Vieira says that he wants a point of difference for ASPECT to be its emphasis on nurturing and supporting talent.
“We want ASPECT to be a platform for a career in landscape design. This should be a place where people can develop and grow successful and meaningful careers. Part of this involves pursuing significant projects that benefit people and the natural world, ” he said.
But, Adam adds, there is no desire to see ASPECT pursuing growth for its own sake.
“We aren’t aiming to be the biggest anything. Rather, for us it is all about making an impact, and having access to meaningful projects, the best talent, and working with like-minded clients. Our growth is and should always be about our people and creating value for our clients.”
The Goods Line, Sydney, Australia | Photography: Florian Groehn
The Roof, Shanghai, China | Photography: Dong Liang
Landscape as conductor
Both co-CEOs repeatedly return to the need for ASPECT to be bold if it wants to thrive, both in a commercial sense but also in the way it approaches design. Kiekebosch says that “being bold" is not merely a matter of pursuing ever-larger projects.
“When we talk about being bold we’re not just talking about being involved in impactful projects, we’re talking about leading them – in the collaborative, respectful way we’ve practiced and honed over the years. Landscape is a lens through which we can see a project as a whole and stitch its various elements together.”
Likening ASPECT to the conductor of an orchestra, Valter says, “ASPECT is not a group of technicians, focused on one kind of design. We can look at projects using history and science and engineering and art and architecture, all of which inform our design.”
As a specialist, landscape-oriented design practice, ASPECT can operate independently, flexibly making connections and choosing its own collaborators. This means that a unique team is curated for each project, resulting in designs that are tailored, specific, and fit for purpose.
“When we talk about being bold we’re not just talking about being involved in impactful projects, we’re talking about leading them – in the collaborative, respectful way we’ve practiced and honed over the years. Landscape is a lens through which we can see a project as a whole and stitch its various elements together.”
Likening ASPECT to the conductor of an orchestra, Valter says, “ASPECT is not a group of technicians, focused on one kind of design. We can look at projects using history and science and engineering and art and architecture, all of which inform our design.”
As a specialist, landscape-oriented design practice, ASPECT can operate independently, flexibly making connections and choosing its own collaborators. This means that a unique team is curated for each project, resulting in designs that are tailored, specific, and fit for purpose.
Victorian Desalination Plant and Ecological Reserve, Wonthaggi, Australia | Photography: VUAS
Reinforcing unity
The decision to move to a co-CEO model, with Adam based in the Southern Hemisphere and Valter in the north, was done in part to signal that ASPECT’s growing presence outside of Australia is a focus for the business. But both co-CEOs are eager to emphasise that this is not about cleaving the Australian studios from their overseas counterparts, for instance.
“This is a unifying move,” says Adam. “It is about integrating our processes and speaking to our commitment to the parts of the world in which we work. It’s about acknowledging that we have done fantastic things, and we want to be ambitious about extending ourselves in the future.”
“This is a unifying move,” says Adam. “It is about integrating our processes and speaking to our commitment to the parts of the world in which we work. It’s about acknowledging that we have done fantastic things, and we want to be ambitious about extending ourselves in the future.”
Valter Vieira (left) and Adam Kiekebosch (right)
Adam Kiekebosch’s history with ASPECT includes former roles as Infrastructure Director, Commercial Director and Regional Director (Southern Hemisphere). As a practitioner he has worked across Australia and the Middle East and collaborated with design studios from Asia, the UK and the USA. He brings a Client-centric focus and applies his systems-based design thinking to the leadership of ASPECT Studios.
Valter Vieira was formerly an ASPECT Studio Director and Regional Studio Director (Northern Hemisphere). He draws on a career underpinned by an understanding of the importance of creating places that are embedded in local cultures. He has worked across landscape architecture, master planning and urban design, and has led projects in Europe, Asia and Africa.
