The Netherlands

West 8 urban design & landscape architecture b.v.

Nico Koomanskade 1021
3072 LM Rotterdam
The Netherlands

+31 (0) 10 485 5801

Belgium

West 8 Brussels urban design & landscape architecture bvba

Waaienberg 123
1745 Opwijk
Belgium

+31 (0) 10 485 5801

United States

West 8 urban design & landscape architecture p.c.

2133 Arch Street, Suite 101
Philadelphia, PA 19103
United States of America

+1 347 371 2252

Landscape as Poetry

Inner garden, University of Utrecht, NL

A still life set within Utrecht’s University Library, serving as a viewing courtyard and a backdrop for the restaurant.

The inner garden or patio of the University of Utrecht is a still life of Wisteria, Mulberry and soft, red seating elements. The clean cut architecture and square base of the patio form the ideal context for an introvert garden. One of the patio walls is made out of wire netting which is covered with a haze of Wisteria. The square base with large black pebbles is surrounded by large concrete slabs and has an edge of lily-of-the-valley. The patio can be accessed from the restaurant and at various points red donut-shaped seating elements are placed that encourage the visitors to become part of the still life.

West 8’s concept for the garden design was brining life and death together. Large plane-trees grow out vulnerable, twisted and distorted, leaning heavily on the red crutches. In order to achieve the ‘fragile, twisted, heavy’ look of the Mulberry Trees, West 8 prescribed a phased-training regiment. The first step called for trees to be tied to a red power-coated steel rack in order to begin sideways growth. The series of controls applied to the trees create a certain ceremony of the often under-recognized temporal quality of Landscape, making visible the change and movement inherent in the medium.

Client
University of Utrecht

Imagery
© West 8