Hestia Zinsmeister

Background

Hestia studied at Wageningen University (WUR), where she completed her MSc in Landscape Architecture in February 2023. Her fascination with the profession arose during a Minor in Landscape Architecture that she followed in the final year of her BSc International Land and Water Management. The spatial application of her more technical knowledge about different landscape systems in a creative and iterative design process made her enthusiastic. This led to the decision to first follow a pre-master program, followed by a master's degree in landscape architecture at WUR. During this time she worked at H+N+S for a year, first as an intern and then as a part-time employee. With her graduation research, Hestia further specialised in climate-adaptive design, spatial and social justice and the design of public space in different contexts.

Focus

Hestia prefers to delve into solving complex and urgent issues, and she likes to combine research-based and explorative design to come up with an integrated solution for various assignments. She believes in design as an approach and a way of thinking to solve the challenges we currently face as a society (and as a world). And maybe more importantly, as a way to address the challenges of the future. She enjoys being inspired by systemic design, focusing on creating conditions in the landscape that use natural processes to form robust and resilient landscapes. She likes to apply this in projects with a large landscape scale, but also in projects with a smaller or more urban scale. Themes that interest and inspire her include: robust water systems (dealing with drought and peak rainfall), climate adaptive cities, connection between cities and country (housing, agricultural transition, etc.), and spatial and social justice. Although her interests are broad and various scale levels suit her, Hestia's approach to each assignment is precise and meticulous in every detail.

Hestia prefers to spend her free time outdoors, where she enjoys active activities in nature like hiking, cycling and camping.