SUA in Nitra Hosted Landscape Architecture Students within ELASA 2025

At the turn of July and August (July 31 – August 6), Slovakia and the Czech Republic became the center of the European student landscape architecture community. A total of 37 landscape architecture students from 19 European countries visited Bratislava, Trnava, Nitra, Lednice, and Brno to participate in the meeting of the European Landscape Architecture Students Association (ELASA).

A rich program was also prepared at the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra (SUA in Nitra). “The meeting, themed Beyond Borders, guided participants through visible and invisible boundaries – in the landscape, in society, and within the profession of a landscape architect. Participants were able to discover diverse approaches to design, local traditions, as well as innovative trends in landscape architecture in our region,” said Natália Onuferová, a landscape architecture student at SUA in Nitra and co-organizer of the program. She pointed out that ELASA returned to Slovakia after twenty years, confirming its importance as a platform for professional and cultural exchange.

The program at SUA was opened by Assoc. Prof. Attila Tóth, Head of the Institute of Landscape Architecture of the Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering (FHLE), who introduced the university campus to the participants. They visited the SUA Aula, the renovated outdoor spaces, experimental meadow plantings within the BIO:VCEL:IN project, and the Botanical Garden with its new planting areas. The next day continued with a workshop at the SUA Creative Centre led by Assoc. Prof. Zuzana Tončíková, focusing on bio-inspiration as a tool for sustainable innovations. An important part of the program was also the planting of the ELASA tree at the Institute of Landscape Architecture, FHLE. “This symbolic act, which takes place at every ELASA meeting, emphasizes the value of connecting students across Europe,” added Onuferová. The participants also had the opportunity to visit the faculty’s experimental garden, the new green roof, and the living laboratory of green innovations on the FHLE roof, where the impact of surface solutions on local overheating is monitored using custom prototype measuring systems.

The conference program further included visits to important landscape architecture projects. Students explored the renovated space at Freedom Square in Bratislava, and in Trnava they joined a guided tour with the city’s chief architect. In the Czech Republic, they visited the company Egoé in Bílovice (Uherské Hradiště district), which produces outdoor furniture. They were also impressed by Pole designu, Egoé’s educational platform reflecting on questions of design, architecture, and culture, as well as by a professional excursion to the Arboeko tree nursery. In Lednice, the program included activities at the Faculty of Horticulture of Mendel University in Brno (MENDELU), a tour of Lednice Park with the planting of another ELASA tree, and a cycling trip to discover the Baroque landscape. The meeting concluded in Brno with a short tour of city parks.

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