Curated Inspiration
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Architecture

the work of

Periscope

Curated by SLA Architects
  • Design AgencyPeriscope
  • PhotographerPeriscope

Rasmus Astrup Periscope is a spatial-design and landscape architecture practice whose mission is to deliver regenerative, sustainable urban and public-realm projects that balance ecological, social and built-environment concerns. They work across scales always with an emphasis on ecological integration, community participation, and long-term resilience. An approach and graphic that is outstanding. You can literally feel how it is to be there by looking at the drawings, while also understanding the values behind the design.


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Regenerative Design and Ecological Integration

Periscope approaches design through a lens of resilience, creating projects that respond to both people and planet. By grounding each intervention in its ecological, topographic, and social context, the studio ensures that architecture, landscape, and urban planning are inseparable from their environment. In green and blue infrastructure projects, Periscope reconnects cities with nature: restoring biodiversity, integrating ecological networks, and treating green spaces as part of a larger system rather than isolated plots.

Strategic interventions in flood management, surface water drainage, and water harvesting reinforce urban density while maintaining a meaningful connection between people and the natural world. Every project is driven by meticulous research, technical rigor, and plural perspectives, forming a foundation for design that is both sustainable and deeply responsive to local context.

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Masterplanning and Public Realm

Periscope’s approach to masterplanning combines macro-scale thinking with long-term community collaboration. By understanding geography, topography, and social dynamics, the studio creates dense, walkable, and adaptable urban environments. The Highgate Cemetery Landscape Masterplan exemplifies this approach: a 75-year vision for one of London’s most historic and picturesque burial grounds, commissioned to safeguard its heritage while preparing it for future ecological resilience. The site faces challenges including habitat loss, flooding, subsidence, pladsmangel, and heritage deterioration.

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The West Cemetery in 2021
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A series of tools for application to the existing cemetery
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An illustration of the West Cemetery in 2025

Periscope proposes a future where human and non-human life coexist seamlessly – Karl Marx alongside the last white rhino, Victorian graves alongside stag beetle mausoleums. Veteran trees in the East Cemetery are celebrated, while localized grave removals in the West Cemetery preserve essential memorials. Reflection ponds, greenhouse chapels, and community engagement programs transform the cemetery into a living laboratory for ecological regeneration, zero-waste management, and climate-adapted forest growth.

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Sections showing how the cemetery develops over time

Buildings, Making, and Community Engagement

Periscope extends its expertise into the tangible experience of place. Public realm and landscape interventions are prototyped, modeled, and tested with local communities to ensure meaningful interaction with the environment. Research-driven projects explore ecological, material, and social dimensions, from analyzing the quality and accessibility of London’s green spaces to investigating new making technologies for everyday objects. By combining architecture, landscape, and urban design, Periscope produces spaces that evolve over time, respecting heritage while embracing change.

Projects like Highgate Cemetery illustrate the studio’s belief that treasured places develop through incremental, adaptive processes. Collaborations across disciplines – heritage specialists, ecologists, artists, and engineers – ensure that each project balances complexity, beauty, and utility. The result is a practice that fosters ecological health, community connection, and long-term resilience, where each intervention is a step toward regenerative urban futures.

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An illustration of the West Cemetery in 2050
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