Spain
The botanical garden is contemporary in its design
vocabulary and rational in its detailing. Inspired by
fractal logics, the application of triangulation as the
basis for the civil engineering works has produced a
coherent overall design with a clear identity. The gar-
denesque approach has been avoided, in favour of
a more sober, low-key use of extensive textures of
vegetation, interwoven with paths, which maintains
an important fluidity and coherence among the spa-
ces. Only by adopting this extensive approach could
one have avoided falling into the trap of creating
theme-park scenery. The result is rendering rather
than representation, landscape rather than garden.
There has been no concession to lyricism; instead,
there is a tension between plants and infrastruc-
ture, the living and the inert, sharp edges and
organic forms, the static and the dynamic, between
permanence and change, simplicity and complexity.
Poetry emerges from the different perceptual sca-
les of the project, rather than through prodigious
design or detailing.
The three main conceptual approaches to the pro-
ject – the phytoepisodes as the criteria for organi-
sing the botanical collection; the triangulation grid
as a flexible spatial strategy; and the fractal logic
as the basis for the design of the infrastructure
and architectural elements – seem to be working
well together in a necessarily flexible way. The con-
vergence of these three concepts has allowed the
garden to be implemented gradually, without major
interruptions, while remaining open to the public.
The two-speed consolidation of infrastructure and
planting has proved to be practical. The extensive
path system was constructed in a single phase
during 1999 allowing complete access for planting
and maintenance, whereas the different phytoepi-
sodes are being implemented gradually, as the bud-
get and the plant materials become available.
The garden seems to fulfil expectations in terms of
accessibility, social acceptance, and the develop-
ment of the planted schemes, but some criticisms
can be made. Locating the building which houses
technical services away from the entrance building
has created some problems in terms of costs, secu-
rity and logistics which could have been avoided if
these functions had been combined in a single build-
ing or complex. On the other hand, the entrance
building, as it stands, has a welcoming sculptural
quality, which might have been difficult to achieve
in a building with a larger programme. It displays
itself as one more fractal object amidst the fractal
patterns of the garden, with a broken geometry,
halfway between a square, a building and a window
to the garden. The same cannot be said about the
management building or the recently inaugurated
Botanical Institute, both of which are situated at the
edge of the garden, and have their own inner logics
