Daan is an ecologist and landscape architect—and, in many ways, a perpetual student of botany. After two years working with Erik Dhont, he took the leap into freelance practice this summer. The catalyst was an invitation for a residency in Mexico, where he is collaborating with a painter to design a garden rooted entirely in native plant species.
As an ecologist-turned-landscape architect, this is exactly the kind of work he thrives on: taking the time to observe and understand a landscape at a slower, more deliberate pace before beginning the design process.
With his Mexico trip scheduled for this winter, Daan is currently working on garden projects across Belgium and Switzerland. He approaches his craft as an ongoing evolution—a transition from ecologist to landscape architect that he hopes never to consider "finished." Looking ahead to 2027, Daan is seeking more immersive, on-site projects that allow him to live within an environment and develop designs deeply rooted in the local ecosystem.
During my trips to Lanzarote over the past two years, I was constantly struck by a raw, compelling wilderness unlike anywhere else. The island’s extreme conditions demand a quiet humility from us. This creates a deep sensuality that I feel strongly on the island, yet find difficult to fully grasp. Experiencing this kind of connection to the landscape is what keeps drawing me back. I want to understand why a landscape dominated by minerality and xerophytic vegetation touches me so intimately.
Driven by this inquiry and a desire to go deeper, I am applying for a residency at Hektor with an open proposal: to co-create a landscape project rooted in research into the native flora on and around the finca. Specifically, I propose a two-phase approach:
Phase 1 — Observation & Analysis. I will set out to map the plant communities on and around the finca, as well as across other key microclimates on the island. My approach is both spatial and sensory: exploring how plants relate to one another through distance, density, succession, symbiosis, and competition, but also viewing vegetation as scenography and atmosphere. This will involve field research, conversations with local experts, literature studies, sketching, and photography. For instance, I am particularly fascinated by the almost tactile patterns created by the repeating forms of dominant Euphorbia balsamifera communities sweeping across the landscape in the north and along the slopes of Mount Famara.
Phase 2 — Synthesis & Dialogue. What can these insights mean within the walls of the finca? This is an open question I look forward to exploring with you. How do you cultivate and interact with the landscape, and what have you learned while actively transforming this place under the island’s unique conditions? What is the ultimate vision for regeneration? Could Hektor evolve into a botanical garden? How might the farm support the island's fragile, endangered ecosystems through the lens of rewilding?
Together, we will shape these two phases into a concrete plan aligned with your vision for the estate—whether that takes the form of a biodiversity strategy for the farmland, or a transformation of the gardens surrounding the suites into an educational and sensory botanical experience.