Garden of Time

Exhibiting at the Beijing International Horticultural Exposition 2019, West 8’s Master Garden, ‘Garden of Time,’ is a symbolic journey of life: disconnected from the surroundings, visitors will be led by a narrow elongated path walled by red bricks, which connects a sequence of three garden areas, to engage in an environmental immersion.

1 — 4

2 — 4

3 — 4

4 — 4

Starting with ‘Garden Of High Clouds’, where an array of shade is created by high pine trees; shade-tolerant groundcover plants create a thick, lush green carpet, and ferns and mosses dominate the palette. The ‘Garden of Short Youth’ is bursting with mixed uses of white and pink flowers across all seasons that provide a vibrant sensory experience. Here, the focal point is a dripping pond built with volcanic rockeries in cubic shapes. Further along, visitors enter the ‘Garden of Repose’ expanding on the idea that a wall, tree and seat can create a quiet and intimate place of harmony, celebrating the beauty and simplicity of the ending path.

Each of these three garden areas has its own unique atmosphere created by different usage of materials, vegetation, shadows and colours, united by enclosed walls made of fired clay bricks – a material commonly used in Northern China for more than 5.000 years. Each of these garden areas provides visitors with a different perspective. The symbolic journey of life concludes with a moment of reflection.

Client
Beijing Forestry University, Landscape Architecture Jounal China (北京林业大学、《风景园林》杂志社)