Heat Risk Reduction Guidelines, Hadrian Aqueduct Cooling District
Urban design guidance for heat mitigation across nine municipalities along the historic Hadrian Aqueduct.
Dimitra Theochari
Ecology of Comfort
Landscape Architecture · Climate Adaptation · Nature-Based Solutions
Ecology as part of everyday life
Landscape architecture shapes how people experience climate, public space and the city around them.
The work presented here focuses on the relationship between ecological systems and daily life: how shade, water, soil, vegetation and biodiversity can help create places that remain comfortable, useful and recognisable over time.
This way of thinking is described as Ecology of Comfort.
It is not a fixed style or a catalogue of solutions. It is a framework for understanding how environmental performance can support the ordinary activities of urban life—walking, meeting, resting, playing and spending time outdoors.
Read about Ecology of ComfortThree questions guide the work
Can people live comfortably here?
Comfort is understood as the ability to move, rest, meet, play and use outdoor space under changing climatic conditions.
Can ecological systems thrive here?
Water, soil, vegetation and biodiversity are treated as working systems rather than decorative additions.
Can both continue to improve over time?
Landscapes are considered as living structures that grow, adapt and require realistic care.
Selected Work
Projects across public space, climate adaptation, landscape architecture, masterplanning and strategic design.
Each project was developed within a specific professional context. Project pages identify the responsible organisation, collaborators and Dimitra Theochari's role.
Cooling Havens, Athens
Transforming heat-vulnerable neighbourhood spaces through shade, water, planting and everyday public use.
Institute of the Fire Service North Rhine-Westphalia
A unified campus landscape for Germany's largest fire service academy, developed from competition win through HOAI LPH 2–3.
Alisher Navoi International Scientific Research Centre
Landscape design connecting a vaulted brick cultural centre by ZHA with the public realm and river landscape of New Tashkent City.
Tongzhou Green Heart Park
A 1,150-hectare metropolitan park transforming industrial land into the ecological core of Beijing's new administrative sub-centre.
Fields of Work
The work spans projects at different scales, from public spaces and building-related landscapes to masterplans, climate strategies and interdisciplinary competitions.
The strongest emphasis lies in the early planning stages, where spatial structure, ecological systems and long-term project direction are established.
-
Public Space
Squares, streets, parks and neighbourhood spaces shaped around climate, access and everyday use.
-
Landscape Architecture
Landscape design for cultural, educational, civic, workplace and mixed-use environments.
-
Landscape-Led Masterplanning
Frameworks in which water, soil, vegetation, movement and public space help organise long-term development.
-
Climate Adaptation
Spatial responses to heat, stormwater, drought, biodiversity loss and changing urban conditions.
-
Strategies and Guidelines
Research-based frameworks, design manuals, feasibility studies and implementation guidance.
-
Competitions and Design Collaboration
Landscape architecture, nature-based solutions and public-space design within interdisciplinary teams.
Portrait in preparation
Profile
Dimitra Theochari is an architect, engineer and landscape architect based in Hamburg.
Professional experience spans approximately fifteen years across public space, landscape architecture, climate adaptation, nature-based solutions, masterplanning and strategic design.
The work has developed through international design practices, interdisciplinary planning organisations and the leadership of ensphere GmbH, alongside collaborations with municipalities, architecture offices, engineers, researchers and public institutions.
Germany is the primary field of practice, with selected work in Greece, Cyprus and other international contexts.
View profileWriting & Talks
Selected articles, publications, lectures and conversations on landscape architecture, climate adaptation, public space and nature-based solutions.
-
The Ecology of Comfort
Keynote lecture at Viherpäivät, the Finnish green industry congress, on designing climate adaptation through everyday comfort.
-
Auf dem Weg zur kühlenden Stadt
On the path to the cooling city: heat, water and vegetation as connected design questions for German municipalities.
-
Closing water cycles in the built environment through nature-based solutions
Co-authored research on the contribution of vertical greening systems and green roofs to urban water cycles.
Contact
For landscape architecture commissions, interdisciplinary collaborations, climate adaptation strategies, competitions, research partnerships and selected lectures or workshops.
Based in Hamburg and working primarily across Germany, with selected projects in Greece, Cyprus and other international contexts.