Architectural Record – August 2019

69

shifts. Drawing on the landscape firm’s award­winning research into
historic precedents, the $19 million project comprises forest walks, a
central court of granite and limestone terraces, a dozen pools and
fountains that express the manifold nature of water, and an informal
orchard of locally adapted trees, all linked by views across a naturalis­
tic wetland.
From the garden’s entry court, a woodland walkway makes a quiet

beginning, passing a lozenge­shaped black granite pool that reflects

the sky, and stands of wild roses, Alberta’s emblematic flower, that

bloom among the trees. Emerging from the forest, the path climbs to a

shaded terrace, or talar, that overlooks a four­part court, or chahar bagh,

together forming the most structured and identifiably Islamic part of

the garden. A limestone colonnade the length of the talar supports a

series of orange tensile canopies, whose vibrant glow contrasts with the

forest backdrop.

Water, precious in desert cultures (and increasingly so elsewhere),

wells up out of a massive block of polished granite on the talar, seem­

ingly the source for a waterfall and rippled chute that flow to the

channels of the chahar bagh. In addition to the plays of texture, illumi­

nation, and pattern that celebrate water, the garden’s formal geometry

seamlessly integrates a series of stepped and calibrated beds for wet­

land plant nurseries, seed production, and botanic research. Beyond, a

restored wetland surrounded by fruit trees expresses the theme of

stewardship.

At opposite corners of the chahar bagh—where the formal garden

opens to paths encircling the pond—a rose garden and an “ice garden”

symbolize the Alberta setting. The rose garden centers on a five­petaled

fountain, with a paving pattern based on the rose’s fivefold symmetry.

The ice garden’s paving pattern is based on sixfold symmetry, the struc­

ture of ice crystals and snowflakes, and includes openings for fog jets

to mist the small space on summer days.

Throughout the garden, the use of precise geometry at multiple

scales, from layout to detailing, refers to the mathematical order under­

THROUGH LINE A central axis connects a canopied terrace, quadripartite court,
and—behind the viewer—a reconstructed wetland (above). Illuminated niches backlight
cascading water (right).