Founder and Editor of World Landscape Architecture (WLA) and organise the annual WLA Awards, Student Design Competitions and other publications and events.
Damian started World Landscape Architect(ure) in 2007 when there were no dedicated websites for landscape architects and was reporting news articles. It became WLA (World Landscape Architecture) in 2010 and started publishing projects and news. The digital magazine started in 2013 and published 33 issues prior to ceasing publishing in 2019.
In 2023, WLA has grown to over 55,000 monthly readers from across the world. The WLA Awards are held annually with over 400 entries in various professional and student categories.
Professional Career & Background
Damian Holmes grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne and developed a love of landscape through visiting national parks throughout Australia. He enjoyed visiting gardens and garden design, inspired to become a landscape designer when visiting the annual garden show at Burnley College in Melbourne. Damian designed his first garden at 10 and he went on to study horticulture at Burnley College which became part of the University of Melbourne. After spending time in landscape construction and tree nursery he went on to complete a Masters of Landscape Architecture at the University of Melbourne under Catherine Bull, Jeremy Pike, Andrew Saniga and Ray Green.
Damian worked at Urban Initiatives with Bruce Echberg, Tim Hart and Natalie Smith from 2000-2004 and with a major interest in Urban Design and Landscape Technology. During this period he worked on Box Hill Mall, Victoria Park, Bain Reserve, and Rethink Centre. He also assisted with the technical design of various projects with Jim Sinatra and Phin Murphy during this period. In 2002, he became a registered landscape architect with the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects.
In 2004, he worked for UMA (now AECOM) in Calgary on various residential development projects and then moved to China in 2005 to work at Brearley Urbanists Architecture (BAU), where he worked with a growing team of landscape architects on various urban design and landscape architecture projects. During 2006-2008, he assisted Chris Razzell in establishing ASPECT Studios in Shenzhen and Shanghai in China. In 2008, he left ASPECT and worked on a series of his own small projects in China and with local design institutes. In 2009-2010 he again worked with BAU and then moved on to Design Landscape Collaborative (DLC) in 2011 to work on the technical design and construction of numerous projects including Kerry Jingan, Foshan Tiandi, Donghu Park and then a series of projects at Shanghai Disney Resort (Disneytown, Public Transport Corridor (subway station), Star wishing Park). In 2014, he returned to ASPECT Studios Shanghai to assist with the training of various staff in technical design. In 2016, he returned to Melbourne, Australia to work as the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) to improve technical design, operations and strategy. He has continued in this role as CTO and has developed and maintained ISO Systems (9001, 14001, 45001) along with various skills initiatives around project management, contract management, technical design, sustainability in design and more. He currently works at ASPECT Studios.