Symbolism

Figure 5.15 Aerial view of Canberra, the Australian capital city. Courtesy of the Australian National Capital Authority.

and in the end provided the resolution of what was a contentious debate between two competing cities. Looking at a recent aerial view of Canberra (Figure 5.15), one can see the axial framework for the plan. The layout of several of the major streets actually aligns to mountain forms visible and located near to Canberra itself. It is most probable that the reference to the alignment of the mountain features of Sydney and Melbourne is what gave the edge to the Griffins’ competition submission.

Parliament Building, Canberra, Australia

As the result of another international design competition in Australia for a new parliament building, the New York architecture firm of Mitchell/Giurgola was selected with site work designed by landscape architect Peter Roland (Figure 5.16). The new structure would replace the temporary parliament building constructed at the foot of a hill facing Lake Burley Griffin. The original intention was to tear down the old building and replace it with the new structure. There was a public outcry when these plans were revealed as the public felt the old parliament building represented a valuable part of the city’s cultural heritage. The Mitchell/Giurgola solution resolved the issue of maintaining the old building by positioning the new structure on the top of the hill above the old parliament with a roof garden or public park on top. This solution not only saved the removal of the historical building by placing a park above the new structure, much of which was buried underground into the hill. Building a park above the parliament building symbolically placed the people above their government.

In these two examples for Australia, we can see the power of a design. Two national political conundrums were resolved through design, the first being the 1912 master plan for the new capital city

Figure 5.16 Parliament House, Canberra, Australia. Courtesy of the Australian National Capital Authority.

Figure 5.17 Garden of Eden, a small neighborhood park in the Latin Quarter of Madrid.

of Canberra that resolved the competition by two cities to be the nation’s capital followed later in the century by the clever approach that placed a people’s park above the government housed in the new parliament building.

The Four Rivers of Paradise

One of the more ubiquitous historical references that has informed the design of private gardens and public spaces is the desert oasis and its manifestation: Paradise or Garden of Eden from the Bible. Whether or not there is a historical basis for its existence at all other than from biblical sources will not be discussed here. It certainly can be seen as a mythological or cultural construct that has influenced garden design in countries bordering the Mediterranean and in Southern Europe. The characteristic bilateral organization of spaces defined by the four rivers of the Garden of Eden can be found throughout regions bordering the Mediterranean, particularly Portugal and Spain and later exported to Latin America. Shade is provided by a dense planting of trees shielding visitors from the intense Mediterranean sunlight. Shade and water are also the basis and attraction of a desert oasis. The oasis metaphor embodied in the Garden of Eden substantiates the biblical origins of the garden as both a refuge and pleasure garden and originates—from a Western perspective—in the Tigris and Euphrates river valley.

In Figure 5.17 is a neighborhood public garden located in the Latin Quarter, Madrid, Spain. Note in the center of the garden there is a sculptural feature (standing in place of a typical fountain). A clipped boxwood hedge lines the walkways radiating from