Roberto Burle Marx was a Brazilian landscape architect whose designs of parks and gardens made him world-famous. He is accredited with having introduced modernist landscape architecture to Brazil. He was known as a modern nature artist and a public urban space designer.

1. ROBERTO BURLE MARX
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
BY ,
S.DIVYA
S.PRIYANKA
MAYANK PATEL
“ A GARDEN IS THE RESYLT OF AN ARRANGEMENT OF NATURAL MATERIALS.
ACCORDING TO AESTHETICAL LAWS, INTERWOVEN THROUGHOUT ARE THE
ARTISTS OUTLOOK OF LIFE, HIS PAST EXPERIENCE, HIS AFFECTION, HIS
ATTEMPS, HIS MISTAKES AND HIS SUCCESS.’’

2. INTRODUCTION “ THE PLANTHUNTTER”
† BORN-August 4, 1909 São Paulo, Brazil.
† DIED- June 4, 1994 (aged 84) Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil.
† NATIONALITY- Brazilian.
† PARENT(s)- Cecilia Burle, Wilhelm Marx.
† OCCUPATION- Landscape Architect .
† KNOWN FOR- Designing modern nature artist
gardens and public spaces.
Farmhouse and chapel gardens
in Barra de Guaratiba where
Burle Marx died in 1994.
† Roberto Burle Marx landscape architect as well as a painter, print maker,
ecologist, naturalist, artist and musician.
† Introduced modernist landscape architecture to Brazil.
† His work had a great influence on tropical garden design in the 20th
century.
† Water gardens were a popular theme in his work.
† He was deftly able to transfer traditional artistic expressions such as
graphic design, tapestry and folk art into his landscape designs.
† He also designed fabrics, jewellery and stage sets.
† He was one of the first people to call for the conservation of Brazil's
rainforests.
† More than 50 plants bear his name.
† He amassed a substantial collection of plants at his home, including more

3. EARLY LIFE
† He was the fourth son of Cecilia Burle, an upper class Brazilian Catholic woman whose family came from Pernambuco and
France, and Wilhelm Marx, a German Jew, born in Stuttgart and raised in Trier. The family moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1913.
† Burle Marx's first landscaping inspirations came while studying painting in Germany, where he often visited the Botanical
Garden in Berlin and first learned about Brazil's native flora.
† Upon returning to Brazil in 1930, he began collecting plants in and around his home. He went to school at the National School
of Fine Arts in Rio in 1930 where he focused on visual arts under Leo Putz and Candido Portinari.
† While in school he associated with several of Brazil's future leaders in architecture and botanists who continued to be of
significant influence in his personal and professional life.
† One of these was his professor, Brazilian Modernism's Lucio Costa, the architect and planner who lived down the street from
Burle.

4. † In 1932, Burle Marx designed his first landscape for a private residence, the Schwartz house.
† The Pampulha complex in 1942, designed gardens. His first garden design was completed in 1933.
† In 1937, Burle Marx gained international recognition and admiration for this abstract design of a roof garden for the Ministry of
Education building. The design highlighted elements of tension and drama.
† In 1949 he acquired the Sítio de Santo Antonio da Bica, a 365,000m² estate in the Barra de Guaratiba neighborhood on the
outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Established his garden, nursery and tropical plant collection at Guaratiba. This property was
donated to the Brazilian government in 1985 and became a national monument. Now called Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, under
the direction of IPHAN-Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional / Ministério da Cultura, it houses over 3,500
species of plants.
† The house was rebuilt in a valley on the site of a garden house belonging to the original plantation estate.
† Roberto Burle Marx founded a landscape studio in 1955 and in the same year he founded a landscape company, called Burle
Marx & Cia. Ltda. He opened an office in Caracas, Venezuela in 1956 and started working with architects Jose Tabacow and
Haruyoshi Ono in 1968. Additionally his artwork can be found displayed throughout the city of Rio de Janeiro "it is an open-air
museum of works displaying his unmistakable style, one wholly his own" . Roberto Burle Marx's 62-year career ended two
months before his 85th birthday.
† He spent time in the Brazilian forests where he was able to study and explore. Burle Marx was one of the first Brazilians to
speak out against deforestation.
† This enabled him to add significantly to the botanical sciences, by discovering new rocks and plants.
† Marx was also involved in efforts to protect and conserve the rain forest from the destructive commercial activities of
deforestation for bananas and other crops and clear cutting of timber.
CAREER
Itamaraty Palace, headquarters of the
Ministry of External Relations in Brasilia.,

5. PHYLOSOPHY
† Burle Marx's artistic style was developed from modernism and distinct features of Brazilian culture such as folk art .
† Much of his work has a sense of timelessness and perfection.
† His designs were also influenced by cubism and abstractionism.
† His aesthetics were often nature based, for example, he never use to mix flower and colors so he used utilization of big groups
of the same specimen, using native plants and making a rocky field into a relaxing garden.
† He was very interested in each plant's character and what effect that has on the whole garden. He sought a depth in his designs
by understanding how animals interacted with plants and how they bloomed, amongst other plant characteristics.
† Burle Marx had a great skill in utilizing the sculptural form of plants.
† Burle Marx was mindful of the dynamic of walking through a garden. The sensation of mobility is an important element of
experiencing his landscapes.
† He also made clever use of enormous scale, lighting and reflection particularly in his use of water.
† Burle Marx was able to extend the architecture of a building into the garden.
† He preferred to work on public spaces because, in his words, they are able to provide dignity for the masses.
† Marx's work "can be summarized in four general design concepts—the use of native tropical vegetation as a structural element
of design, the rupture of symmetrical patterns in the conception of open spaces, the colorful treatment of pavements, and the
use of free forms in water features“.

6. ABSTRACTIONISM

7. CUBISM

8. PAINTINGS
VARIOUS ABSTRACT PAINTINGS INFLUENCED HIS
LANDSCAPE.
REFLECTS HIS SITE PLAN OF SAFRA BANK

9. AWARD
S† Roberto Burle Marx has received the following prizes, diplomas of merit and honorary memberships:
† The landscape architecture prize at the 2nd International Exhibition of Architecture (1953)
† title of Knight of the Order of the Crown from Belgium (1959)
† Diploma d’Honneur in Paris (1959)
† the Santos Dumont Medal of the Brazilian Government (1963)
† the Fine Arts Medal of The American Institute of Architects in Washington (1965)
† doctor of the Royal College of Art, London (1982)
† an honorary doctorate from the Queen of the Netherlands.
† The Missouri Botanical Garden awarded him the Greensfelder Award and the Kentucky Botanic Garden proclaimed
October 14, 1985 in his honor (Eliovson 1991).

10. WORK
S† Landscape design of some gardens in the public buildings of Brasília
† Ministry of Army – water garden and excellent use of concrete forms.
† Foreign Affairs Building
† Ministry of Education
† Itamaraty Palace – headquarters of the Ministry of External Relations
† Copacabana promenade – Pavement landscape, large scale (4 km long) mosaic completed in 1970 on famous Rio de Janeiro beach. (Influenced by Portuguese pavement)
† Inhotim, Brumadinho
† Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo, 1954
† Flamengo Park – large public park in Rio de Janeiro built on landfill
† La Rinconada Hippodrome, Caracas, Venezuela
† Parque del Este, Caracas, Venezuela
† La Lagunita Country Club, Caracas, Venezuela
† Pampulha, Belo Horizonte
† Cascade Garden, Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania
† Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, Florida (Completed posthumously)
† Maracaibo Botanical Gardens, Maracaibo, Venezuela
† Peru Square, Buenos Aires, Argentina (Demolished)
† Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
† Casa Forte Square (Praça de Casa Forte), Recife, Pernambuco-Brazil
† Cascata Farm, Araras-Brazil
Parque del Este, Caracas
Copacabana beach promenade

12. KLCC PARK

13. † The KLCC Park is a public park located in the vicinity of Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
† The park has been designed to provide greenery to Petronas Twin Towers and the areas
surrounding it.
† The park was developed in the year 1998, covering an area of 20 Hectares.
† AIM-the aim was to "leave the world a little more sensitive and a little more educated to the
importance of nature".
† DESIGN- The park was designed to showcase a heritage of tropical greenery by integrating
man's creation with nature.
The park features many combinations of man-made design such as cements, water features
and also natural features such as trees, shrubs, stones and wood.
Elements of shape and topography were created to give an illusion of space.
The combination of trees, shrubs and sculptures were arranged to provide color and form to
the park.

14. † A man made lake was built in the middle of the park with a 28 meter high water fountain, directly in front of
Suria KLCC mall and Petronas Twin Towers towards the middle of the park. A 43-meter elevated bridge that
cut across the lake provides a vantage view of the park and the twin towers.

15. PARK
FEATURES† Lake Symphony is a 10,000 square meter man made lake with water fountains. The main fountain can shoot
water up to a height of 89.
† A 1.3 km. long jogging track is covered with EPDM, a special rubberised material for comfort and safety. Rest
areas are provided along interconnecting footpaths and numbered on the local map.
† Various waterfalls, fountains, cascade and reflecting pools are scattered around the park.
† A children's playground with a public pool is located on the west side of the park.
† This approach is exemplified by the Copacabana Beach promenade, where native sea breeze resistant trees
and palms appear in groupings along Avenida Atlantica. These groupings punctuate Portuguese stone
mosaics which form a giant abstract painting where no section along the promenade is the same. This
"painting" is viewed from the balconies of hotels, and offers an ever changing view for those driving along the
beach. The mosaics continue the entire two and a half-mile distance of the beach. The water feature, in this
case, is of course the ocean and beach, which is bordered by a 30-foot wide continuous scallop patterned
mosaic walk ,Copacabana Beach is "the most famous in Brazil"

16. CONCLUSION
† From overall study we conclude that most of landscape of Roberto
burle marx were based on abstractionism and cubism.
† There was more use of water as compared to land and vegetation.
† Mostly he used native plants and used tree acting as sculpture in
water body.
† Mostly he used neutral colour scheme for pavements.

17. Thank
You