The Garden

‘The Garden’, is a series of speculative architectural pieces that aims to discuss our interactions and role within nature and how we might heighten our experiences with the natural. We propose four pieces, that might find themselves in a ‘natural powered theme-park’. A series of water towers for ‘Rainmultiplication’, a giant sail for capturing and accelerating the wind, a 500m high storm viewing tower, and a solar etching screen.

It is a work in progress and should be viewed as part of an ongoing research project.

“The sky is no longer out there, but it is right on the edge of the space you are in.” – James Turrell Toward Unknown Light

If it is taken that our relationship with the natural is dependent on the way we view it, then a change in this relationship is only possible if we change the way we view nature. If the natural is seen to be outside of our normal experience (liminal, then, or perhaps superfluous), entering the garden is a choice, and the natural becomes a tool. If, however, the boundary is softened or removed, or if our view was altered to see the natural as part of our experience, then the tool becomes something to partner or collaborate with rather than something to use. If this was the case, our relationship might be so altered as to lead us to embellish our experiences of the natural alongside a choice to work with is for mutual benefit.

So let us then imagine what this new utopia might look like. A tower that harnesses the power of lightening, whilst simultaneously providing a platform in the sky for the greatest electrical show in the world; the sheer power of nature surrounding the body. Giant leaf-like structures which catch the rain in order to produce free-flowing showers below, constructed next to a reservoir from which the water is allowed to return to the clouds that itself is peppered with towers that offer simple viewpoints or opportunities for solitude. An excavation into which the suns’ rays are directed via a giant lens, wherein a mirrored plate allows for a protected yet unparalleled experience of the celestial.

Simplicity of design, simplicity of experience. The natural should not become alien, but should be implicit in human experience, a movement that allows for the barrier between humanity and nature to soften and the line between the inside and the outside to blur. Nature becomes our playground, these structures part of the theme parks of the future.

Exhibition text: Dan Green 2011