Gardens of the Age

By Seth Oliver

                “What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson. Gardens have transformed over the centuries into more pieces of art for public use rather than private. These landscaped features can be compilations of many materials to form miniature, condensed and sculptural pieces in themselves. Gardens can have architectural elements surrounding them but also have the plants be the architecture. The dichotomy of this ideology has come about in different ways. A few in particular that follow the notion of structure around the focal pieces are the Tanner Spring Park and Park Westergasfabriek. A few that counter this and have the focal pieces be the gardens are represented in the Serpentine Pavilion and the Lincoln Center Roof Garden.

                Architecture to contain the wild is a path to showcase the natural environment in a way that is controlled with the illusion of frivolity. Tanner Spring Park makes a miniature of an ecological process of the cleansing water. From the rough hills to the edge of the pond, the plants and landscape dominate the scene. The paths are placed on top of the show off the piece of the natural elements. It is almost as if floating above it is to admire the process at work below the bridges. The Culture Park of Westergasfabriek also fosters the idea of paths added to nature, but isolates most of the nature to preserve them from Human interaction. A visual stimulus rather than a physical one. This park also displays the cleansing of the water, but from a distance. The other difference would be the large pool at the very end of the park that engages the public. Tanner Spring Park engages people from the trails and the earth but the Culture Park of Westergasfabriek engages people from the water. Many other gardens have followed these ideas of displaying nature, but these two are of the ends of the spectrum and very unique.

                On the contrary, more modern gardens have popped up as pieces of architecture as well as natural wonders. The Serpentine Pavilion in London by Peter Zumthor and Piet Oudolf was literally a box. The dark corridors of the ambulatory surrounding the garden were completely articulated. Not only the structure, but also the pants were specifically cultivated for the height and color. Giving the illusion of wild and natural but in reality it is all planned and carefully calculated. The plants became a part of the architecture. They were integral in filling a void of the inner rectangle and shaped the experience within. The Lincoln Center Roof Garden uses plants as a building material as well. The sections of the field, pond and forest all became three separate “buildings.” The roof of the first is a vast slope of grass. The pond is a reflective rectangle flush with the ground. And the forest is a composition of the grid lined trees to shape a box building outline. All three are individual pieces of the same sculpture, but all add a different aspect of the personality of the space. This idea incorporates the city into the garden rather than the garden into the city. Blending the spaces into a modern take on the “garden” and to push the limit of what materials can be used to create architecture and landscape.

                The designing of garden spaces still centers on the public experience. This has not changed for centuries. The new gardens try to blend the materials of the featured pieces and the structures that frame them. The realization of materiality and how to use it is key to successfully composing a landscape for the modern world. Whether the flora is the main attraction, or just a thread in the fabric, gardens are pushing the boundaries of the norm further than ever before.