Botanica Atlanta - Landscape Design, Construction & Maintenance

Image: Auntie P.

Please do not get me wrong. As an outdoor material, terra cotta has got a lot going for it. It does not rust, and it does not rot. Terra cotta, derived from Italian words for “baked earth,” is a material that hasbeen used by humans since ancient times. Starting as clay that is pulled from the earth, it can be formed into such useful objects as bricks, tiles, roof shingles, and flower pots. In its most primitive fabrication, the formed clay is then simply baked in the sun or covered with the embers of a fire, though almost all of today’s terra cotta products are fired in a high-tech kiln. In addition to its abilities to stand up to the elements, seeing the beautiful finished color of terra cotta -- an earthy, burnt-orange hue -- makes it easy to understand why it hasbecome the default material for planters.

Images: Angie Muldowney and B. Brisk

Terra cotta pots are the archetypal planting container, but please in mind that they are not the only planter option.

Image: Jason Tromm

Along my daily bicycle commute last year, I would regularly encounter a certain bike at the same intersection. This was not the coincidence of two riders passing one another at the same moment. Rather, the bike in question was actually being used as a decorative planting container. As spring arrived it became covered in green growth, and as summer came it displayed showy blossoms. There is a very interesting statement here, that something that was designed for motion and engineered for speed would be repurposed as a stationary, or “planted,” receptacle for landscape plants.

Images: Taylor Dundee, Mick Limux, and Marina Berger

Wheeled vehicles, of course, are not the only objects that can be repurposed. Other non-traditional planters involve bringing interior plumbing fixtures out into the landscape. Like reuniting long-lost relatives, some gardeners carry old bathtubs outside to join terra cotta pots, their ceramic brethren. Vegetated bathtubs, whether intentional and manicured or derelict, are a common sight in rural gardens. (In the South, they are nearly as ubiquitous as the so-called bottle tree.) Another plumbing fixture that is just as durable and container-ready as the tub is the toilet, and though this “objetd’art” may or may not be something that you want to put on display, some gardeners show theirs off with pride.

Images: Keith Burns, Jonathan Warner, and A.Piper

Research into repurposed, unconventional planters turned up an interesting project in Haiti called the “Road to Life” tire gardens. A collaboration of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and the Papaye Peasant Movement, this agricultural program goes beyond re-use for the sake of visual interest. By inverting discarded automobile tires, this effort has worked to grow food in one of the poorest and most environmentally ravaged countries in North America.

Images: Norm Horofker and Aiesha Cummings

You may find these Haitian plant casings, as well as many of the specific repurposed containers that this article mentions, to lack the visual elegance or sophistication that you want in your garden. Let these inventive planters, though, serve as a reminder that there is a world ofoptions outside the default “blank canvas” or “black frame” that a terra cotta pot provides. Seek out a container that not only matches the style of your landscape but also reaches the level of expression that you hope to achieve. And perhaps remember that one man’s trash is another man’s planter.

Images: Leta Paine andPaul Sayer

Author: Sam Valentine,BLA, LEED AP

It is not easy to argue that winter is a tree’s most beautiful season. But even though the colorful, shapely leaves that adorn deciduous trees throughout the year are noticeably absent, the shedding of those leaves does result in an ephemeral composition of bare branches standing in stark contrast to the winter sky.

Image: Christopher Neugebauer

Looking skyward through a dark silhouette of twisting, overlapping branches recently reminded me of a unique type of tree that a man named Roxy Paine has been planting. My first encounter with one of these trees occurred on the grounds of the Seattle Art Museum. It was a warm, June day, and a single specimen stood out from the rest of the trees in the landscape. It had the right form, with a hefty, supportive trunk and branches that organically curved, multiplied, and reduced in diameter as they grew further from this trunk. What caught my eye, however, was that even in the middle of summer this tree was not wearing even a single leaf. As I walked closer, I realized that its bark was not just smooth but actually shiny.

Images: Eldan Goldenberg and Mark B. Schlemmer

Stainless steel. Cut pipes. Welded rods. Rather than a living, fibrous tree, I was looking at a metallic sculpture that had been masterfully crafted to capture the life-like “language” of a branching plant.

The term “dendroid” is generally used as an adjective, and it describes something that is treelike, is arborescent, or branches like a tree. Roxy Paine, a sculptor, has repurposed this term as a noun, with which he has named his family of metal, branching art works. These “Dendroids,” each bearing their own title, such as “Impostor,” “Graft,” and “Maelstrom,” are the result of decades of Paine’s careful analysis of the organic growing patterns of trees. “I’ve processed the idea of a tree and created a system for its form,” Paine explains, “I take this organic majestic being and break it down into components and rules. The branches are translated into pipe and rod.”

Images: Taís Melillo, Mariëlle Ernst, and David Hoffman

While some of Paine’s Dendroids are perhaps the epitome of “art imitating life,” other pieces use this language of dendritic growth to form compositions that are quite unnatural. One of his works that I find most electrifying, “Conjoined,” is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art of Forth Worth. It depicts two trees of different, fictional species that appear to have fused to one another by the tips of their branches. In this and other Dendroids, Paine seeks to “expand the edges of the language” that he has digested and to propel his work “outward into those edges.”

Image: Thomas Hawk

Paine’s works have been exhibited and acquired by renowned art institutions across the world. In the United States, Dendroids have been installed at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, among others. In what may be his highest-profile work thus far, Paine even constructed a 5,000 square-foot installation on the roof garden of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Images: Ryan Gessner and C. Over

Author: Sam Valentine,BLA, LEED AP

In the 1860’s Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, giving it a commanding centerpiece. Carefully screened from New York City’s outside disturbances through the use of gentle hillocks and dense forest plantings, the vast openness of this centerpiece, the “Long Meadow,” affords city dwellers a sense of liberation and restoration that was specifically intended to renew their spirits. After all, late 19th-century urban life was filthy, smoky, loud, and odorous in a way that modern New Yorkers simply cannot imagine.

Images: Sam Valentine and Matthew X. Kiernan

Today, Long Meadow is still just as amazing of a space, and according to the Prospect Park Alliance, its gently undulating grass surface may be the longest unbroken meadow in any American city park. To those playing frisbee or soccer, flying kites, or enjoying a relaxed picnic, the subtly curved alignment – a strategic landscape feature called a “dog leg” – implies to the viewer that the meadow is even longer than its actual one-mile length. Even more impressive though, is how Olmsted, Vaux, and Company choreographed the approach and arrival to this liberating landscape.

 Image: From “Design for Prospect Park,” Olmsted Vaux & Co. 1866-1867 (Color added by Sam Valentine)

The primary paths of access to the open meadow are guarded by unique, ornamental archways.

Images: Ranjit Bhatnagar and Sam Valentine

These arches are quite functional, as they are actually overpass bridges that bear their own park paths. To a traveler along one of the gently meandering paths that leads to the Long Meadow, however, these architectural interventions provide a dynamic sensory effect. With their handsome stonework, the arches initially attract the eye of an approaching visitor. As one gets closer, they then frame the view of the meadow. Upon entering one of them, they tightly enclose the viewer and shroud him or her in a cool darkness. Then, finally, they reveal the grandeur and vastness of Long Meadow in one dramatic moment. This is a sequential experience that is magnified by the contrast between the sunlit open space and the cave-like tunnel from which one has just emerged.

Images: Sam Valentine

You may find yourself interested in Olmsted and Vaux’s orchestration of arrival onto Long Meadow but hold doubts that this effect can be transferred to a property that is significantly smaller than Prospect Park’s 585 acres. You should know, then, that Olmsted created a similar dramatic arrival experience, albeit scaled down, at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. His property was only a little more than an acre, but on one section of his landscape, Olmsted choreographed the arrival to the largest open space on his property – his front lawn.

While walking along a narrow, short path that winds through a rock garden, visitors to what is now Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site can find themselves suddenly expelled from an intricate environment of craggy boulders and shady mountain laurels onto the relatively spacious vista of a residentially scaled meadow.

Author: Sam Valentine,BLA, LEED AP

The picture below shows a bridge. The structure carries visitors from the forest on the left, across the wide, muddy, moat, and up the steep embankments of the historic fort on the right.

Please do not be surprised if you cannot actually see the bridge. The designers of it were going for precisely that effect. Conceived by RO&AD, a Dutch architecture and landscape architecture firm, this “bridge” provides access to the centuries-old Fort de Roovere in the Netherlands.

For reasons that should be quite obvious, this ingenious, waters-parting walkway calls to mind the biblical legend of Moses providing passage across the Red Sea.

Through the structure’s creative engineering, visitors are now able to follow in the path of an invading soldier. To enter the walls of the fort, a person descends the outside bank, walks beneath the surface of the brown, murky moat, and then climbs the steep, two-tiered fortification. This sequenced entrance experience is certainly more welcoming now than it was historically, but it still maintains a revelatory fraction of the physical and psychological intimidation that the fort must have presented to attacking forces.

There are far too many instances of modern architecture overpowering the landscape in which it is built. Though the Moses Bridge has all of the marks of modern architecture – clean, straight lines, sleek detailing, and a heavy presence of wood slats – this structure is anything but obtrusive. I believe that in environmental design, just as with human speech, there are times for shouting and times for whispering, and RO&AD was able to fulfill a functional need while still recognizing that their architectural voice should be low and restrained in the fort’s historic setting.

All in all, the structure is an excellent example of a creative, calculated, and responsible architectural intervention. The design is sensitive to Fort de Roovere, following its cues and sticking to its slopes, and it is environmentally sensitive as well, featuring wood that is both FSC and PEFC certified. It is no surprise to me that this project was recently awarded Building of the Year 2011 from the BNA (Union of Dutch Architects.)

All images from RO&AD Architecten

For a moment, try to think back to the first image that I presented. Imagine a conventionally designed bridge arching and spanning across the moat, and ask yourself what visual impact that might have had on the surrounding fort. It is remarkable that the designers were able to come up with and execute their unique, creative vision in order to preserve the original character of the historic landscape.

Author: Sam Valentine, BLA, LEED AP

Image: Oberon’s Grove

A land artist hailing from Britain, Andy Goldsworthy’s work is site-specific sculpture and photography that pulls from the natural environment in which it is set. His work is dynamic, colorful, vivid, and sometimes intended to mislead the viewer’s eyes.

Pinecones, twigs, blades of grass, clay, mud, ice, stones, and even entire trees are just some of the media that Goldsworthy manipulates to create his works. He creates his compositions in British fields, American forests, and coastlines around the world, and he abstains from using manmade aids such as glue or fasteners. As a result, many of his creations only last as long as it takes for a flower to wilt, the tide to rise, or the wind to blow.

Images: Art + Culture and Sam Valentine

My first exposure to his work was through striking photographs of his circular arrangements of colorful leaves and stones, and I was amazed to find that the pieces were composed of only natural elements.Then, a few years ago, while visiting Storm King Art Center, I had the opportunity to see one of Goldsworthy’s more permanent works up close. Nestled in a lush mountain valley in Mountainville, New York, his “Storm King Wall” rises from a field, dives into a placid pond, and then emerges from the other shore.

Images: Green Sky Designs and Leonel Ponce

The wall, over two-thousand feet long, was built from stones and boulders collected on the old valley farmland, and parts of the wall follow the old foundation of a boundary wall that predated the art center. Thewall makes a point to bend to nature’s will, yielding to tree trunks and meandering a wide serpentine path around them. In addition to the fluid line that the wall paints on the landscape, it is also something that should be appreciated at a nose’s length. To build the wall, Goldsworthy collaborated with professional stone masons who skillfully shaped and dry-stacked stones.

Images: Green Sky Designs, Sam Valentine, Daryl Edelstein, and Urban Palimpsest

If you consider yourself an admirer of art or a lover of nature,it is well worth making a trip to Storm King Art Center, which is only an hour north of New York City, or you may be interested in Goldsworthy’s book, which documents the conception and construction of the wall. Disobeying the very nature of rock, Goldsworthy has created a composition of stone that is surprisingly alive and fluid. The wall is a lasting work that will have an enduring impact on your artistic soul.

Author: Sam Valentine, BLA, LEED AP

Very early in my landscape architecture education, I was passing through one of the historic University of Georgia quads on my way to class. I happened to glance up at one of the campus’ more unusual historic buildings, and I found myself immediately intrigued. Something about the building communicated to me a sense of wealth and refinement, but at that point in my career, with no architectural training under my belt, I was not equipped to determine what exactly about the structure was exuding such an ostentatious quality. I also could not discern why it reminded me of France.

Image: A’s Photos

After a few more times walking by the building, and some lessons in historic French architectural styles, I had found my answers.

In the 17th century, a French architect by the name of François Mansart began to popularize a style of roof that would eventually come to bear his name. Somewhat of a fusion between the gambrel roof and hip roof styles, a mansard, or “French,” roof is a four-sided gambrel that pitches down to the exterior walls on all sides. Another architectural feature that has strong visual associations with this type of roof structure is the presence of dormer windows that puncture the sloping roof plane.

 Image: Sam Valentine

Francois Mansart and his great-nephew, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, who followed in his architectural footsteps, produced many celebrated works in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France. By looking at two of their famous remaining works, Chateau de Maisons and Chateau de Dampierre, one can observe mansard roofs employed in their highly ornate, original context.

Images: Jim W. and Daniel Del Sol

Since the time of the Mansarts, the roof style has spread around the globe. Perhaps due to the sense of wealth and refinement that emanates from the mansard style, my quick web search turned up mansard roofs not only on the streets of Paris but also atop a resort in Turkey, a bank in Bolivia, a lighthouse in Connecticut, and even the county courthouse in Covington, Georgia.

The widespread popularity of the mansard roof is often attributed to a story about evading property taxes by “hiding” a top floor of a building beneath a roof. There are several variations of this legend, but I find this explanation largely unsubstantiated. What I did find was a 1783 Parisian law that limited a building’s height to twenty meters above the cornice line. The prospect of adding livable space beyond the height that a typical roof would have allowed certainly encouraged the construction of such structures, but it is important to note that both François Mansart and his great-nephew had been dead for almost a century when this Parisian law was passed.

In the United States, the style has seen historic periods of great popularity. As a result, examples of mansard roofs can be observed in everything from suburban single-family homes to urban skyscrapers.

 Images: Gerald Bimacombe, ABC-TV, and Sheryl Yvette

Though there are innumerable precedents of beautiful, elegant structures capped with mansard roofs, I have seen at least as many awkward, poorly proportioned examples. Aesthetic beauty aside, what I find most important is the air that this style of roof conveys. My experience with the mansard roof on UGA’s campus demonstrates an important lesson: whether or not we are aware of it, each of us holds certain cultural associations with various types of structures. Even the untrained eye understands the language that a given architectural style speaks.

Author: Sam Valentine, BLA, LEED AP

It could have been the leaf duty that I was roped into while visiting my parents in Athens this weekend, or perhaps it is the tangible change in the air that indicates fall is coming. Either way, I figure that it does not hurt to get a head start on thinking about all of the leaves that deciduous trees will be dropping for the next few months and the options that a person has for dealing with them.

I spent some time studying other gardeners’ opinions and searching for creative solutions for managing the litter that oaks, maples, hickories, and other hardwoods drop on yards this time of year. Unfortunately, my search did not turn up any way to prevent the leaves from falling, but the good news is that there are a variety of strategies (and philosophies) that one can take when it comes to fallen leaves.

The first advice that I came across was in the form of a column written by Liza Field, a gardener who quite enthusiastically defends her decision to allow leaves to loiter permanently in her yard. You may think that she goes a bit far when she describes collecting leaves from other yards along her street, but her basic reasoning is actually quite sound. After centuries of agriculture and development, most of the South’s soils have long ago been stripped of their natural, fertile topsoil, and smothering your landscape with leaves is a way of fast-forwarding topsoil regeneration. Any future perennials, shrubs, or trees that you might plant in your landscape will likely show their appreciation for your forward-thinking generosity.

However, if you are not the type to shove bags of your neighbors’ leaves into a compact car, you still have two excellent options that will allow you to take advantage of the nutrients and organic matter contained by the leaves on your property.

If your leaves have fallen onto a lawn area, you can simply roll over them with a mulching mower. The notion of allowing mulched leaves to sit on top of your dormant grass from fall until spring might seem counter-intuitive, especially since mulch is most often used to cover and block plant growth. Recent research, however, has shown that this practice is not only an easier solution than raking and hauling, but mulching might actually suppress weed populations while enriching your lawn with natural fertilizing nutrients.

On-site composting is a different option that will allow you to reap the benefits of leaf matter, even if you do want to maintain a cleared lawn. Depending on your interest in composting, there are a range of options. To get the most out of your leaves, as well as other plant waste and even food scraps from your kitchen, you can follow instructions to build a proper composting system. If this seems daunting, you can also informally compost by simply raking up your leaves and dumping them into designated “wild” areas on your property.

Though it is certainly the least creative strategy, perhaps the most traditional way of dealing with the annual problem of fallen leaves is by raking and piling them at the curb. Most municipalities offer leaf collection on scheduled dates, and many of these local governments also grind the collected leaves into useful mulch. There is certainly nothing wrong with this strategy, but just remember that, as you see the truck take away your leaves, they are also hauling off the mulching, weed-suppressing, and lawn-fertilizing properties that this resource naturally offers you. When spring rolls around, you probably will end up spending time and money acquiring artificial products that provide the same qualities that you just gave away.

Images and text by Sam Valentine, BLA, LEED AP

Anyone who has gathered around a fireside storyteller, and observed him positioning a flashlight beneath his chin and pointing the beam over his face, has experienced the dramatic affect that can be created by uplighting. With a simple beam of light, even a friendly, smiling face can be transformed into a dramatic – and perhaps even haunting – image. In the landscape, the technique of uplighting can turn a dark, dull volume into a composition that is high in relief, contrast, and dramatic effect.

Images: Arne Hjorth Johansen, Hazel Owen, and Matthew Fish

On building walls, the technique is an effective way to highlight significant parts of a facade, and in my experience, the strategy unfailingly results in a structure that – when night falls – looks clean, well-maintained, and attractive. The consistent effect of shining a beam of light nearly parallel with an architectural face is to emphasize any inherent structural relief. Between courses of brick or stone, mortar gaps only half an inch deep can take on a much greater visual depth by remaining in complete shadow. Similarly, wood-sided structures and slatted shutters can become banded canvases of highlights and shadows.

Images: R. K. Node, J.P. Stanley, and Nico Hogg

Directing uplights at trees and tall shrubs can create equally dynamic results. Artificial lighting that is judiciously positioned and aimed can exhibit the smooth trunks of American beech trees, magnolia species, and American hornbeams, and the inherent roughness of pecan, oak, and trident maple barks can be exaggerated. Additionally, uplighting can be employed to brighten a tree’s leaves and canopy, creating hundreds of green, glowing lights from a plant’s foliage. Perhaps the nicest effect of uplighting plants is the creation of an illuminated silhouette against the black background of night.

Images: Alicia Woodward, Chris Malory, K. Ramesey, and Gregory Garnich

Churches sometimes use uplights to celebrate their steeples, and businesses regularly use uplighting to call attention to their signs and to attract customers. Whether it is coming from the sun’s rays or an overhead fixture, most lighting that we see is a form of downlighting, and as a result, uplit objects are unusual and tend to attract our eyes.

In your residential landscape, consider using uplighting strategies to accent and bring attention to your favorite structures or garden objects. Can you think of any carvings, plants, or sculptural artwork that might benefit from the dramatic contrast of uplighting?

Images: Michael Whitneyand Dominic Alves

Author: Sam Valentine, BLA, LEED AP

Image: Andrew&Suzanne

From the time of the Roman Empire, to the villa gardens of the Italian Renaissance, and throughout the history of Japanese gardens, the human race has brought fish species into many of its gardens. The garden fish, perhaps epitomized by the showy koi, is cherished as a bearer of color, movement, and life in a designed landscape.

Although an ichthyologist would certainly tell you that a fish is an animal, in the contained landscape of a garden a fish has many of the qualities of a plant. Unlike other animals that you might find in a garden, including birds, chipmunks, and even frogs, a fish is the one animal that is incapable of leaving its habitat. Garden fish are fixed – or perhaps “planted” – by the gardener.

Just like plant selection, when deciding what fish might best complement your garden, there are many carefully bred species and varieties to pick from. Each of the many options has distinct appearances, qualities, and needs.

The Comet Goldfish

Images: Sheffield Tiger, Lina Smith, and Julie Goldy

One of the most popular garden fish, the Comet is an active, long-bodied goldfish that is well-suited for outdoor living. This variant of goldfish typically has the orange flame coloration, though Comets can sometimes be found with white or even red and white scales. The silhouette of this fish is defined by its single and deeply forked tail fin that resembles the streaming tail that trails a comet as it moves through space.

The Fantail Goldfish

Images: M. H. Stephens, Steven Maw, and Annie Roi

This goldfish variant has a shorter and plumper body that is almost egg shaped. Its coloration is similar to the Comet, but its form is defined by its showy, split tail fin.

The Oranda Goldfish

Images: Haree Eyes, Bill Frazzetto, and Fuzzy Thompson

The Oranda can have a wide range of scale colors, and this fish is available in orange, red, black-and-white, red-black-and-white, and even blue. A mature Oranda is immediately recognizable by the intensely colored, bumpy growth on its head. This feature, called a “wen,” often makes the Orandas look as if they are wearing a bright red cap on their heads.

The Black Moor Goldfish

Images: Norman Baboo, M. H. Stephens, and Benson Kua

Black Moors can be recognized immediately by their bulging, “telescopic” eyes and black coloration. Their scales range from velvety black to black with a bronzy sheen.

The Koi

Images: Minarae, Mar-Law, and James Laing

The koi, though often mistaken to be a large breed of goldfish, is actually a species of ornamental carp. Beginning in 1820’s Japan, koi have been carefully bred for almost two-hundred years, and as a result they are incredibly showy fish. They can be found in almost every color, including orange, yellow, white, blood red, cream and blue, and many fish have hybridized combinations of those colors.

Koi are often more aggressive than goldfish varieties, and they also have a longer lifespan, regularly living two or three decades. The longest living specimen is said to have lived 226 years, though I would guess that you should not count on your garden fish to survive quite that long.

There are many important considerations that you must consider when selecting fish or fishes for your garden. Before acquiring any fish, I would recommend consulting with books or specialists to see what fish are “hardy” in your climate, or else you may have to collect and over-winter the creatures inside your home.

Additionally, it is of great importance that the new habitat, whether a pond, lake, fountain, or outdoor aquarium, is properly designed to meet the specific needs of the fish you might select. The recommended volume, depth, and aquatic plantings will vary with each type of fish. Consider incorporating a small waterfall or fountain into your fish’s new home, as these features oxygenate the water and make for a healthier habitat.

In my experience, the inclusion of fish is one of the most overlooked means of improving a residential landscape, as the presence of fish can be a unique, valuable asset to any garden. As with plant selection, careful consideration of your options and their impacts is a better strategy than diving right in.

Image: Linux Librarian

Author: Sam Valentine, BLA, LEED AP

This month’s Garden Design published an article that covers a one-of-a-kind art experience that is put on annually in London, England. One of the city’s prominent art museums, the Serpentine Gallery, sets up a temporary pavilion on its lawn every year. The pavilion lawn is adjacent to Kensington Gardens, which was once a private, palatial garden and is now one of the largest public green spaces in central London. The magazine article, appropriately titled “Summer Temp,” highlights Peter Zumthor, the internationally renowned Swiss architect who was selected to design this year’s pavilion, and the article gives a description of the structure that he created.

Images: Garden Design

In his own words, Zumthor articulates the inspiration for his pavilion in the following sentences:

“A garden is the most intimate landscape ensemble I know of. It is close to us. There we cultivate the plants we need. A garden requires care and protection. And so we encircle it, we defend it and fend for it. We give it shelter. The garden turns into a place.

Enclosed gardens fascinate me. A forerunner of this fascination is my love of the fenced vegetable gardens on farms in the Alps, where farmers’ wives often planted flowers as well. I love the image of these small rectangles cut out of vast alpine meadows, the fence keeping the animals out. There is something else that strikes me in this image of a garden fenced off within the larger landscape around it: something small has found sanctuary within something big.

The hortus conclusus that I dream of is enclosed all around and open to the sky. Every time I imagine a garden in an architectural setting, it turns into a magical place. I think of gardens that I have seen, that I believe I have seen, that I long to see, surrounded by simple walls, columns, arcades or the façades of buildings – sheltered places of great intimacy where I want to stay for a long time.”

Images: John Offenbach

I find Zumthor’s pavilion design intriguing, and I find the emphasis that this architect has placed on the garden to be novel. From my interpretation of his writing, the garden stands at the center of his concept, and his entire pavilion symbolically protects this green heart. His writing and the pictures of his pavilion are quite remarkable, and I can only imagine what it might be like to explore it and appreciate it in person.

After reading this article, I started thumbing through images of pavilions from previous years. There were two observations about the Serpentine Gallery’s Pavilion project that I found especially noteworthy. The first is that, despite the fact that these structures only stand on the museum lawn for a few months, their character is quite permanent. Built of such durable materials as steel, concrete, glass, and wood, the construction and subsequent dismantlement seems quite demanding. This hard work, though, is not done in vain, as the yearly visitation can be as high a 250,000 visitors in just one summer season.

The second and most remarkable characteristic of these pavilions is that each architect who was selected has come up with an unprecedented, truly creative work. Looking at the eleven pavilions that have been built since the Gallery’s tradition began in 2000, it is hard to draw any comparisons among them. Not one has resembled a pavilion that came before it.

Images: World Architecture News, Philippe Ruault, Hélène Binet, and Love Architecture

The pavilion architects are unhindered by most of the basic programming demands that typically thwart the full realization of a designer’s vision. Such concerns as bathrooms, fire escapes, HVAC systems, and broom closets, which are requirements of habitable structures, are not required in these pavilions, and the result is a fluid, pure expression of an architectural concept. The finished product is bold and beautiful, albeit fleeting. But I believe that, though the walls come crashing down after a period of weeks, the architectural experience of each pavilion lives on in the sensual memory of each visitor for years to come.

Images: Iqbal Aalam, Love Architecture, and Iwan Baan

Author: Sam Valentine, BLA, LEED AP