Anastasia Timofeeva and EASYBUREAU: Two Award-Winning Landscapes Shaped by Nature and Precision
At the Future Art & Design Award 2026 Autumn Season, EASYBUREAU received the Diamond Prize – Best Design of the Season for House on the beach and the Platinum Prize for Wind in the crowns, both in the Landscape and Urban Planning Design category. The two projects express a shared approach to landscape architecture: carefully organised spaces, restrained planting palettes and engineering that responds to the land rather than imposing itself upon it.
In House on the beach, a sloping site becomes a sequence of terraces and integrated pathways, while a movable swimming-pool cover is concealed within the surrounding paving. Wind in the crowns responds to a riverbank subject to significant seasonal changes in water level, bringing hydraulic requirements into the landscape composition. Together, the projects show how apparent simplicity can be achieved through rigorous site-specific thinking.
Interview with founder of EASYBUREAU - Anastasia Timofeeva
Please give us a brief introduction about yourself and your creative background.
Anastasia: I'm Anastasia Timofeeva, founder and lead landscape architect of easybureau, an independent landscape architecture studio. I've been working in landscape architecture for over a decade, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that the more you understand nature's complex systems and principles, the more you respect them and the more you learn to work with them rather than against them. I founded easybureau to create a practice where curiosity, critical thinking, and creative freedom are just as important as technical expertise. Today, we are a team of architects and designers working on private gardens and public spaces, exploring the ways nature and architecture can influence and enrich one another. We take our work seriously, but we believe the process itself doesn't have to be complicated. I think that balance leaves more room for interesting ideas and sometimes for those brilliantly simple solutions that turn out to be the hardest to find.
What inspired you to pursue a career in creative / art / design?
Anastasia: One of the things I love about landscape architecture is that you never have the final word. You can spend months refining a composition, carefully selecting materials and plants, considering every detail. And then nature joins the project, with its own ideas about how things should develop. To me, that's not a limitation. It's what makes the profession so fascinating. I was drawn to the possibility of working at the intersection of architecture, art, ecology, and human experience. I love that landscape design requires both imagination and an understanding of how the real world works. It's a profession where you can be incredibly precise and still leave room for the unexpected.
Can you describe the creative process behind your work and what motivates you to create?
Anastasia: Our creative process begins with curiosity - particularly about nature and the place we're working with. We study the site carefully, looking for everything that makes it unique: its topography, existing vegetation, climate, architecture, and surrounding landscape. Our goal is to bring these elements into a coherent relationship, where nothing feels accidental and everything works together. But a landscape also has to work for people. We pay close attention to how a space will be experienced in everyday life - whether it feels comfortable, intuitive, and personal, while still having the freedom to evolve. Nature itself is our greatest source of inspiration. Our projects take us through remarkably different landscapes: from open steppes and sun-drenched coastlines to mountains, forests, and humid environments. Each region has its own character, ecological rules, plant communities, and colour palette. The possibilities for discovery are almost endless. One idea we always try to share with our clients is that a garden is a living being. It changes, grows, and responds to the seasons. The relationship with it shouldn't be a constant struggle for control, but rather a process of observation, understanding, and care. In fact, we never consider a garden finished when construction ends. That's simply the beginning of its story. And perhaps the most magical part is that, no matter how carefully we plan, we can never predict every detail of what it will eventually become.
What was the most exciting or challenging part of creating the work you submitted to the competition?
Anastasia: We submitted two projects to FADA, and both received awards which was particularly rewarding because, although each garden has its own identity, they share a recognisable design philosophy. Both projects feature a restrained, almost monochromatic palette, soft planting compositions, and clearly organised functional spaces. Both are also situated on sites with pronounced topography, which made the engineering challenges just as interesting as the architectural ones. In House on the Beach, we worked extensively with the terrain, creating a sequence of terraces connected by comfortable, carefully integrated pathways. One of our favourite details is the swimming pool: its movable cover is recessed into the surrounding paving, creating a seamless, level surface when the pool is open. It's a small detail visually, but one that required considerable technical thought. In Wind in the Crowns, the main challenge was the relationship between the landscape and the river. The site experiences significant water-level fluctuations twice a year, so we had to develop a bank-stabilisation solution that responds to these demanding hydraulic conditions while remaining part of the overall landscape design. These are the kinds of challenges we particularly enjoy. The most interesting solutions often emerge when aesthetics, engineering, and the natural characteristics of a site have to work together. After all, making something look effortless can involve quite a lot of effort.
How would you describe your creative style and the key characteristics that define your work?
Anastasia: I like landscapes with a clear idea behind them, but ones that don't look as though every leaf has been instructed where to grow. Our work often combines strong architectural structures with soft, naturalistic planting, creating a dialogue between precision and spontaneity. We tend towards restrained colour palettes, carefully considered proportions, and compositions that feel contemporary without being dependent on trends. I particularly appreciate restraint. Not because everything should be minimal, but because knowing when to stop is one of the hardest skills in design. We also believe that a strong architectural identity doesn't necessarily mean repeating the same visual language from project to project. Different places deserve different answers. I would much rather people recognise our way of thinking than a familiar collection of design techniques. To me, that's a far more interesting definition of a signature style.
What has been your experience participating in the competition? Were you satisfied with the process and results?
Anastasia: Receiving both first and second place at FADA was a lovely surprise. Although, of course, we wouldn't have entered if we didn't believe in our work. What makes the recognition especially meaningful is that it comes from an international creative community. Architecture is a conversation that extends far beyond geographical borders, and it's exciting to see our projects become part of it. I'm also genuinely happy for our team. Behind every finished project are countless discussions, decisions, revisions, and small victories that nobody outside the studio ever sees. It's nice when all that work gets its moment in the spotlight.
Where do you see the future of the art and design industry heading in the next 5-10 years?
Anastasia: I think the next decade will challenge our understanding of what makes design valuable. As technology and artificial intelligence make it easier to produce impressive images, I suspect we'll become much more interested in the thinking behind them. A beautiful picture is one thing. A beautiful idea that actually works is another. For landscape architecture, this distinction is particularly important. We design with living systems, and they don't always behave according to our renderings. Ecological responsibility, climate adaptation, and biodiversity will increasingly influence not only how we design, but also what we consider beautiful. I hope we'll see less fascination with instantly recognisable styles and more interest in thoughtful, site-specific solutions. And perhaps we'll finally stop expecting every newly planted garden to look like it's been growing there for twenty years.
Editor’s Note
The strength of these two landscapes lies in the way architecture and ecology are treated as interdependent. Terraces, pathways and pool detailing in House on the beach demonstrate spatial control, while the riverbank strategy in Wind in the crowns brings environmental forces into the design brief rather than treating them as an afterthought.
Timofeeva’s philosophy resists the idea of a garden as a finished image. A landscape changes through seasons, plant growth and care; the designer’s task is to establish a thoughtful framework for that change. The Diamond Prize – Best Design of the Season and Platinum Prize recognise two different expressions of this approach.
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