programs used: Rhino, Illustrator, Photoshop, hand drawing

Located in the depths of the Wissahickon park, between a central thoroughfare and a trail, the garden of disrupted expectations aims to challenge our conceptions and preconceived notions of what nonhuman nature is and what it looks like. The garden does so by exposing the manmade infrastructure that underlies the site and by introducing industrial materials to the garden’s palette – both things that one does not expect to find in “nature.” The proposed design also disrupts the environmental processes that occur on the site by redirecting the flow of water and interrupting the growth trajectory of tree saplings – taking cue from the existing site conditions. The contrast between dense planting at the edges and white-trunked birches at the center further amplifies the experience of the sublime within the new landscape.

Forbidden Drive Garden schist boulder placed asymmetrically to force circulation along the platform’s garden side water runs over stone slab; porous sandstone to maintain damp surface steel bridge with water trough below existing sewage pipe tulip poplar saplings growing around pipe water veil grate with water channel below boulders to create turbulence falling water creates mist grate boardwalk