Landscaped Promenade

 By: Denver Sells

           Something that has always amazed me about gardens is their diversity.  You will never have the same garden twice.  From one side of the world to the other, all gardens are different, even down to the chemical makeup of the soil.  This and the climate come together to create each garden’s unique character.  Some however, are more than just a garden.  Some planted and spaces become something more and they become a landscape that can be appreciated by large numbers of people on a regular basis.  I think the first thing to do is to set up what I think of when I hear the word garden.  To me, a garden is a planted area that has been either planned in its arrangement of plants, or its arrangement of pathways through the naturally growing vegetation.  When I hear the term landscape, I think of a large planned space that is not naturally occurring but is instead very well planned out and organized.  Now, this is just my interpretation but is important to my argument.

            Depending on the garden or landscape, it can change people’s perceptions about the space in drastic ways.  Also included in that are people’s pre-existing conclusions.  For instance, when I walk through the landscape around the triumphal arch in Genova, its emotion to me is that of something grand and impressive.  Especially knowing that the purpose was to represent a passing of a struggle, in this case the accent of the fascists to power, it changes the feeling of the space even more.  When you experience the space, you notice as you approach from the North end of the Piazza della Victoria that the landscape is drawing your eye towards the large arch that is situated in the middle of a tree lined grassy area.  This landscaping is making you perceive this arch as the grand focal point: which it is.  In this way, it helps to emphasis the importance of this piece of fascist architecture.  In this way, the landscape helps inform the experience of that space, which is the essential function of landscaping.

One could also argue that this creates a promenade of sorts that leads you down this path, through the arch, up to the next street to the Parco di Villa Croce which inclines upwards several stories and terraces a few times.  This different landscaping, which is still connected visually, is separated by a now very busy road, and almost acts as a barrier to make you want to turn around and go back towards the arch.  As well, the trees that accompany the simplicity of the grass, line the pathway, further emphasizing the linearity of the space.

Being architecturally minded, I have picked up on this sort of leading and suggestion with landscaping before, but it didn’t really make sense until sitting through that lecture I would not have really thought about it that much.  And thus my point about perceptions and views of spaces especially gardens and landscapes.  I would not consider that space as a garden, because it is not intimate or naturally occurring enough, which is fine its not meant to.  However, I would not have necessarily looked at this space as a promenade leading you to the arch, through and past it, only to make you turn and face it again, whether you face it on flat ground or ascend the stairs and view it from several stories up.  Either way, one can observe how the landscaping conforms to a strict rigid form which glorifies the arch as well as helps emphasis, even subconsciously, the fascists and their power.