competition for the International Garden Festival Jardins de Métis in Québec, Canada
Architecture / Competition
Collaboration with Jinny Yu
2019
Odd number of chairs in a circle invites visitors to sit down, smell the flowers and trees, enjoy the views and of being in the nature, and hold conversations. Seats are placed strategically to direct the sitter’s gaze outwards, towards the openings of the circle, to symbolize welcoming of newcomers from outside into the circle.
Garden in the Forest reverses the conventional idea of garden: Instead of binging nature to the garden by recreating and domesticating nature, we are bringing the garden to nature, introducing to Jardins de Métis, a traditional Korean way of enjoying gardens. Koreans have historically placed simple structures in nature where views or other elements of nature were particularly enjoyable: A gentle gesture of creating a garden by simply providing a place to enjoy and reflect.
The central flowerbed forming a concentric circle provides perfume, and ivy plants placed on top of the chairs come down to make the view from inside the circle to blend in with surrounding nature.
Garden in the Forest proposes a gathering place - métissage of people, scent, culture and ideas.