The 18 Most Influential Landscape Architecture Projects From Around the Globe

French landscape architect André Le Nôtre is the mastermind behind Versailles' magnificent gardens. King Louis XIV tasked him with the monumental project in 1661, and it took about 40 years and the work of thousands of men to finish it. The King was personally involved in overseeing every detail as the gardens were supposed to symbolize his absolute power.

Keukenhof Garden dates back to the 15th century when Countess Jacoba van Beieren started a small herb garden near the Teylingen Castle kitchen. That would later become Keukenhof—in fact, the name translates to "kitchen courtyard." Every spring, The Garden of Europe, as it is known nowadays, explodes with color thanks to the seven million spring-flowering bulbs that are in bloom here. In 2019, the garden welcomed more than 1.5 million visitors in just two months.

Unfortunately, Brussels' Flower Carpet show is not a permanent exhibition, but it is still a breathtaking showcase of landscaping mastery. Every two years, the cobblestones of the Belgian capital's Gothic Grand-Place are covered in boldly hued begonias, dahlias, grass, and bark that remain there for three full days. A team of professional illustrators, graphic designers, and landscape architects work on the designs beforehand. Then, more than a hundred volunteer gardeners put together this giant floral carpet that covers over 18,000 square feet.

The lush Majorelle Garden is certainly one of Marrakech's most beautiful sights. Created in the 1920s by French artist Jacques Majorelle, the two-and-a-half acre garden is filled with trees, flowers, and shrubs from all corners of the world. The different plants are interspersed, which creates a striking landscape design of different shapes and textures, especially when you add the vibrant "Majorelle blue" villa and fountain into the mix.

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Also known as the Paradise Garden, the Taj Mahal gardens are divided into four separate areas that span from the entrance gate to the mausoleum. Each is planted with fruit trees, flowers, and shrubs, while a beautiful fountain in the middle serves as a focal point of the design. The perfect symmetry that reigns in the gardens contributes to the feeling of peacefulness that oozes from this breathtaking architectural wonder.

Central Park is considered a landscaping wonder, and its co-designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, are also credited with pretty much inventing the field of "landscape architecture" on this side of the Atlantic. One of the most famous human-made parks in the world spans 843 acres, or roughly 843 football fields, of meadows, waterfalls, woodlands, plazas, and promenades that attract millions of people each year. And while access to Central Park is free of charge, America's first landscaped park contributes to New York City's economy in another interesting way. According to a 2015 report, proximity to the park added more than $26 billion in market value to real estate properties in the area.

Roberto Burle Marx was Brazil's most famous and certainly most prolific landscape architect—he conceived more than 3,000 gardens worldwide. He created some of the most renowned landscape designs in his native Brazil, including the Copacabana Beach promenade. The Sítio Roberto Burle Marx pays homage to his talent and is a landscaping gem in its own right. It spans more than 40 acres and includes seven buildings, five reflecting pools, and a museum nestled among lush vegetation native to the region. The diverse botanical collection features 3,500 plant species, collected by Burle Marx, and a lot of them are indigenous tropical plants from Brazil.

This 30-acre sculpture garden in Dumfries, Scotland is located in the home of renowned landscape architect Charles Jencks. The design was inspired by modern cosmetology and the idea of the garden as a microcosm of the universe. Divided into 40 areas, the property features sculptures, bridges, landforms, terraces, and gardens influenced by concepts such as black hole distortions, fractal geometry, and the Big Bang.

High Line Park looked much different in the 1980s when the raised freight line that was used to transport meat, dairy, and produce, was abandoned. In fact, the site was almost demolished. Thankfully, the New York community rallied together to save it and later, with the help of James Corner Field Operations and architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, transformed it into a lush oasis amidst the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple.

Kew Gardens' beautiful Victorian-era greenhouses and gardens now house more than 30,000 types of plants that draw millions of visitors per year. Kew, also called the Royal Botanic Gardens, wouldn't exist today had it not been for Lord Henry Capel's curiosity. He started collecting exotic plants and fruit trees from all over the globe in his estate along the Thames. His property would later be joined with a neighboring garden, and the two would become Kew Gardens.

Located in Kanazawa City, Kenrokuen is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan. It was initially the private garden of the Maeda Family who started it in the 1620s. It would take more than 200 years to complete the landscape of the 25-acre property, and the garden finally opened to the public in 1874. Today, it is home to more than 8,000 trees.

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The award-winning Lurie Garden in downtown Chicago was created on the roof deck of a parking garage. Its landscape design, conceived by GGN, was inspired by the many contrasting landscapes of the city. The garden is divided into two parts—the Dark Plate and the Lite Plate—separated by the Seam, a water feature and a boardwalk that symbolizes Chicago's past and present.

Walking around this 8.6-acre garden in Kyoto feels absolutely surreal. Parts of the property are covered in 120 varieties of lush moss that have also given the park its unofficial name: Kokedera (or Moss Temple). Saihoji is considered the first garden with a "dry landscape" and the first Zen meditation garden.

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Located in downtown Singapore, the enormous Gardens by the Bay are a group of gardens that will certainly impress you with their size: 100 acres or about 187 football fields. Their futuristic design features 164-foot high tree-like towers, two shell-shaped greenhouses, and a human-made waterfall. The tree structures are actually vertical gardens with thousands of plants growing on them. They are connected by bridges that hang 65 feet above the ground.

Brutalist architecture may not be the first thing that you associate with a serene place to pray, and yet, architect Tadao Ando, somehow made sense of the two. Ando created an artificial hill surrounding a 44-foot tall statue of Buddha and then planted 150,000 lavender plants on the hill that all bloom in the summer. Those who would like to see Buddha's statue can reach it by venturing through a concrete tunnel that is part of a Brutalist-inspired temple.

What if a building could also be a park? You can find the answer to this question in Düsseldorf where Ingenhoven Architects covered the entire façade of the city's newest office building, Kö-Bogen II, with 30,000 plants. The vegetation forms hedges that, if put together, would stretch five miles. The roof of another triangular structure next to the office building was also carpeted in plants and now serves as a public park.

Swiss landscape architect Enzo Enea has worked on more than 1,000 gardens around the world, but his most ambitious project was in his native Switzerland. In 2010, he opened the Enea Tree Museum close to Lake Zurich, where he planted 25 varieties of trees from his personal collection. But what makes the museum a must-visit is the unique landscaping approach. Enea's vision for the museum was to combine landscape, botany, art, architecture, and design to show the connection between them.

Dubai's Miracle Garden is a feast for the eyes that, believe it or not, was built on desert land. It is one of the world's largest flower gardens that features more than 60 million blooms growing on floral sculptures. The park also has 2.4 miles worth of walkways that allow visitors to enjoy the massive colorful statues that are changed every season, so people get a new experience each time they visit.