Spain
The spatial strategy used to structure the garden collections is a triangulation grid, inspired by surveying
techniques. The irregular triangular grid becomes the basis for a hierarchical path system that determines
the major planting plots, divides these plots into smaller units, and makes them accessible. The resulting
extensive plot system allows for a very flexible and creative planning of the phytoepisodes.
Formally, the design appears as a whole, where themes from the grand scale are echoed on the smaller
scale. The fractal geometry of the triangulation plan is reinterpreted at the smaller scale, in the zigzagging,
faceted layout of the path system, in the pavement, which is divided into small trapezoidal shapes, and in
the ‘broken’ volumes of the entrance building.
Two basic materials with an untreated finish – in-situ concrete and corten steel – were chosen for the
hardworks, the extensive path infrastructure and the buildings which provide identity and continuity to the
garden. A strong contrast and dynamic tension are set up between the sharp formality and materiality of
the paths and walls and the ‘naturally’ evolving plantations, wild and apparently anarchic.
When strolling through the winding paths of the garden, one has the feeling that one simultaneously
experiences four different scales of perception: (1) a city scale, now and then providing open views to
Barcelona’s skyline; (2) a project scale, punctuated by overall views of the garden from strategic points; (3)
a one-to-one scale, when one is looking at the different phytoepisodes, which convey the mind to Australian
or South African landscapes; and finally (4) an intimate scale, when one completely withdraws from the
outside world and is lost in the contemplation of a flowering Banksia or is transported by the smell of a
Spartium junceum.
