2 From patio to park The enclosed garden as a generator of architectural and landscape design
The success of enclosed gardens lies in how well they have been embedded in their surroundings; how the principles involved, including garden space, can contribute to the overall design. The methods of carving out or wrapping
around a space in the centre of a building or landscape are simple and spatially economical devices for architectural design. The garden provides a focus and a unifying component for disparate parts of a building complex. It has similar properties to a courtyard, but the garden, by introducing Figure 2.1 Inward looking with central garden.
nature and landscape, adds another dimension. This chapter will investigate the versatility of the plan and how the footprint of an enclosed garden can influence architectural designs, regardless of their size and dimensions, whether it is at the scale of an individual dwelling, a large building complex or a public garden in a city. Figures 2.1 and 2.2.
Small The idea of ‘garden room’ is clearly illustrated in many domestic scale buildings. If the garden is enclosed on at least three sides, an external Figure 2.2 Circulation.
‘outdoor’ room will have been created through the configuration of the walls. The examples chosen in this section are mainly drawn from twentieth- and twenty-first-century buildings where the notion of enclosure has been explored and exploited in the design. In all of them there is a dialogue between the inner and the outer. The quality of the spaces relies on the reciprocity between architecture and garden, creating a physical dialogue between the two, and between the building and its larger context.
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