Draft:David Simonson
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Comment: Fails WP:NARTIST. Safari ScribeEdits! Talk! 12:07, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
David Simonson (born 1982, San Diego, United States) is an American landscape architect based in Paris, France. He is the founder of the design studio Simonson Landscape, which develops artistic and ecological gardens, drought tolerant and xeriscaping landscapes, and public spaces. Trained in the United States and in France, Simonson’s work often addresses the role of landscape in the context of climate change. His gardens have been presented at the International Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire, where he received awards in 2016 and 2024. Since 2022, he has taught at the École nationale supérieure de paysage de Versailles.
Education
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo – Master in Landscape Architecture (2003–2008)
Leeds Beckett University (United Kingdom) – Erasmus exchange in Urban Design (2005–2006)
Université Paris-Sorbonne – French language studies (2009–2011)
Ecole nationale supérieure de paysage de Versailles – State diploma in landscape design (2013–2015)
Career
Simonson trained at RHAA (Robert Royston, San Francisco) and worked with Louis Benech in Paris. He later joined agencies including Phytorestore, Sensomoto, and Opus Urbain, and in 2019 collaborated with Gilles Clément.
From 2020 to 2022 he was senior project manager at Sempervirens in Paris. In 2015, he founded Simonson Landscape.
His approach combines artistic design, ecology, and innovation, with a focus on dry and poetic gardens adapted to climate challenges.
Selected works
Le Jardin des Émergences – International Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire (2016), Prize for Plant Palette.[1]
Le Jardin de la Sixième Extinction – Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild / Festival des Jardins de la Côte d’Azur (2017), Public Prize.
American Peace Garden, Navarin (Souain-Perthes-lès-Hurlus, 2022), part of the Gardens of Peace program, winner of the European Heritage Garden Award (EHGA).[2]
Le Jardin des Murmures – International Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire (2024), Design Prize.
Residencies and artistic projects
In 2019–2020, Simonson took part in a residency at the Centre des Arts numériques d’Enghien-les-Bains, supported by ADAMI. The project, The Monkey in the Abstract Garden, was a transdisciplinary installation combining garden, music, and video, created with composer Alexandra Grimal, computer music researcher Benjamin Lévy, visual artist Antonia Fritche, and sound engineer Céline Grangey.
The installation, a suspended and inverted garden, was presented as a live performance. It incorporated excerpts from Gilles Clément’s book The Moving Garden, used with the author’s permission.
Since 2022, David Simonson has taught at the École nationale supérieure de paysage de Versailles, leading a module on digital graphic expression and landscape design tools.
Awards
2016 – Plant Palette Prize, Chaumont-sur-Loire
2017 – Public Prize, Festival des Jardins de la Côte d’Azur
2022 – European Heritage Garden Award (EHGA), Jardin de la Paix, Navarin[3]
2024 – Design Prize, Chaumont-sur-Loire
Media
Simonson’s projects and perspectives have been covered by international and French media, including:
Interview on Télématin (France Télévisions, 2024) with Philippe Collignon.
France Culture – “Grande Guerre: des jardins pour penser la paix”
Since 2020, Simonson has been a member of the jury at the Saint-Jean de Beauregard plant festival, alongside other well-known French landscape designers such as Patrick Blanc and Pascal Garbe.