Eric-Jan Pleijster is a senior Landscape Architect and the co-founder of LOLA Landscape Architects. LOLA (LOst LAndscapes) is an internationally operating office for landscape architecture that studies and designs spatial transitions of degraded cultural landscapes. LOLA wants to transform these landscapes into beautiful, healthy and sustainable places. Whether in the city, suburbs or the countryside, LOLA aims to design sublime landscapes that make people enjoy, wander and wonder. Eric-Jan graduated cum laude in landscape architecture at Wageningen University (2003). Eric-Jan believes in the use of natural processes to optimize landscapes and to create unexpected and memorable experiences.
Examples of his projects are the design of ecological corridor Park Poelzone, the car-free Merwede housing area in Utrecht and the redevelopment of the former prison Bijlmerbajes into Bajes Kwartier – a sustainable housing area in Amsterdam. Together with LOLA, Eric-Jan has written the bestseller Dutch Dikes and the award-winning monograph Lost Landscapes. In 2013 he received the Rotterdam Maaskant Award for Young Architects. In 2014 LOLA received the TOPOS Landscape Award. In 2024 LOLA was awarded the German Schelling Architecture Prize. Eric-Jan is also active as jury member, guest speaker and visiting professor at congresses, workshops and design studios.