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Cultural heritage and biodiversity are often seen in isolation. However, in historic gardens they are inseparable. Eveliina Kunnaton's thesis, Biological Heritage — Examining the Interactions between Biodiversity and Cultural Heritage in the Saari Manor House Park, highlights this important link. It explores the interdependence of nature and cultural heritage as well as the interactions between humans and other species. The work deals with the biological cultural heritage in Saari Manor House Park, a researcher and artist residence managed by the Kone Foundation in Mynämäki.

The main objectives of the work are to develop an understanding of the concept of biological heritage and to explore how the biological heritage of historic parks and gardens could be examined and made visible. Based on the results of the work, Kunnaton is of the opinion that "biological heritage opens up possibilities to explore the values of historic parks and gardens in a more holistic way, recognising also their transformative, living and processual nature".

The Lappset Committee finds Eveliina Kunnaton's work theoretically and artistically interesting. "The work combines the themes of green cultural heritage and biodiversity in a pioneering way. It extends our understanding of the natural values associated with green cultural heritage and, equally, of the cultural values associated with biodiversity.

The Lappset scholarship is a prize for the year's best thesis in landscape architecture. It is awarded annually to the author of a meritorious thesis in the Landscape Architecture programme at Aalto University. The prize amounts to EUR 2 000 and is donated by Lappset Group Oy.

The thesis was supervised by Professor Ranja Hautamäki and Landscape Architect Pauliina Korhonen. The work was done as part of the research project Saari Manor House — on the other side of sustainability, funded by Aalto University and the Kone Foundation.

For more information:
Eveliina Kunnaton
eveliina.kunnaton@aalto.fi

Professor Ranja Hautamäki 
ranja.hautamaki@aalto.fi
Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture