Wild and wonderful landscape installations showcased at International Garden Festival in Canada
by Kim Megson | 14 Aug 2016
The International Garden Festival has begun in Quebec’s Redford Gardens, with five award-winning garden installations open to the public for the first time.
They are being displayed alongside 22 other creations designed for the festival by landscape architects in Canada and around the world.
The prize-winning studios – who hail from Canada, the United States, France and Switzerland – won the right to build their gardens following an international competition contested by 198 rivals.
Since its inception in 2000, more than 150 conceptual gardens have been exhibited at the annual festival, which is hosted on a site adjacent to the famous gardens created by Canadian horticulturist Elsie Reford from 1926 to 1958.
The winning installations on view are:
• Le Caveau by Christian Poules: a complex construction made of stone gabions and earth that support a levitating green platform.
• Cyclops by Craig Chapple: a giant inverted cone, formed of 100 tapering timber planks eight metres in diameter, suspended over the forest floor.
• The Maison de Jacques by Romy Brosseau, Rosemarie Faille-Faubert and Émilie Gagné-Lorange: a ‘forest of beans’ that will grow over time, creating secret gardens for games of hide-and-seek.
• TiiLT by SRCW: a collection of 24 tents that each may be flipped between two orientations, responding to the position of the sun, to offer shifting pathways through the site in a manner that evokes the movement of a school of fish.
• Carbone by Coache Lacaille Paysagiste: a charred tree trunk, partially cut into pieces, that illustrates the primary material used to build furniture – displaying the journey from root to stump to its final use. A young tree grows where the tree might have grown tall had it not fallen.
The gardens will be open every day until 2 October, 2016.
International Garden Festival landscape architecture installations art Canada Quebec Redford Gardens Jardine de Metis
The installation by Craig Chapple is one of five award-winning pieces on display at the festival Credit: International Garden Festival
Cyclops is eight metres in diameter and suspended over the forest floor Credit: International Garden Festival
Le Caveau by Christian Poules is made of stone gabions and earth Credit: International Garden Festival
A levitating green platform is suspended in the Le Caveau garden Credit: International Garden Festival
TiiLT by SRCW is a collection of 24 tents that may be moved 'like a school of fish' Credit: International Garden Festival
Children are free to play in the tents Credit: International Garden Festival
Each tent can be moved in one of two positions Credit: International Garden Festival
The Maison de Jacques is ‘forest of beans’ that will grow over time Credit: International Garden Festival
Carbone is a charred tree trunk, partially cut into pieces that highlights the importance of preserving nature Credit: International Garden Festival
The International Garden Festival has begun in Quebec’s Redford Gardens, with five award-winning garden installations open to the public for the first time. They are being displayed alongside 22 other creations designed for the festival by landscape architects in Canada and around the world. The prize-winning studios – who hail from Canada, the United States, France and Switzerland – won the right to build their gardens following an international competition
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