Paradise Decked
The World was ail before them, where to choose
Thir place of rest, and Providence thir guide:
They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow,
Through Eden took thir solitarie way.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 12
The art of garden-making can be thought of as a direct result of Adam and Eve losing Paradise. In most religious texts, paradise is described using basic landscape terms - productive trees and soif, water, light, sound, walls, gates, inside and outside. For centuries humans have been interpreting these basic premises in gardens - formai and informai, large and small. These gardens were typically attached to residences - palaces, houses, huts - acting as (in contract with Life Earthly and Domestic) a reminder of the possibility of the Other, different, heavenly, perhaps more perfect, Life.
What is the situation today? For most people living in cities (and sometimes suburbs or even the country side) the only incarnation of a garden, the direct descendant of Paradise itself, is the exterior deck. Located on the back yard or roof, made of pressure treated lumber on concrete posts, surrounded by a porous fence, the deck is the only space for city dwellers to combine art and nature into their own private paradise.
We propose to consider this ubiquitous landscape typology in our garden design. Using its typical materials and methods of construction, planting and other accessories commonlyfound in these situations, we explore the possibility of re-creating Paradise with the common language of the 21st century domesticity.
Paradise Decked is constructed of 2x pressure-treated lumber with 16" o.c. joists that offer the possibility of being enclosed either above or below. Enclosure above provides a walkable surface, enclosure below rafter creates planter boxes for various types of planting. The visitor's experience of PD engenders its paradise-like qualities. PD has limited access above and full access below; the visitorthen proceeds along the edge of the landscape contemplating the earthly aspects - productive wheat field, flowering perennial bed and native meadow-and subsequently enters the space below. There, amidst the forest of support columns (4x4 p.t. lumber) the visitor is encouraged to find two clearings - garden rooms (constructed of galvanized speed-rail and chain-link fence) with hammocks that invite the contemplation of the heavenly and the sublime. The PD sits above the gravel floor, which produces an acoustical effect by amplifying the sounds of the visitor's steps, breath, speech and trickle of water from planters above. At night the garden is lighted by the memory of the day past - through photo-voltaic garden luminaries.
(Competitor's text)
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