Landscape & Urban Design Issue 20 2016 | Page 52

I t is surrounded by high walls which shelter it from the desert’s arid wind. The water that springs to the surface is trapped and channelled, running into multiple rivulets watering the beds. The water bursts from fountains whose babbling brightens and freshens the setting. You can wander amid the flowers and delve deep into the groves to taste many fabulous fruits. The most beautiful birds have made it their home. Every hour of the day and night exudes a parade of subtle scents and fragrances. You can sit in the leafy lounges to play music and read poetry. Spiritual communion with tamed nature instils tranquillity and peace conducive to elevating the spirit, heart and soul. The Persians aspired to its peace and refinement more than anything. They called it paradise. To find comfortable and flattering spaces to open the garden on the horizon, the principle of terracing was imposed, not in the shape of successive steps, but irregular and rounded like lines of the coast. Dry stone walls remind us of the coastline and create sheltered terraces. Tall grasses come as a translucent screen in front of the sea view in which greenery “windows” organize the view of the surrounding islands and the Cap Frehel. 52 Landscape & Urban Design Issue 20 The encounter with space is primarly intuitive ... A blue and white garden composed almost entirely of Mediterranean vegetation, benefits from the pleasures of the Gulf Stream and sea air. The style of the garden may have significantly evolved alongside civilizations, cultures and climates but its functions and the aspirations it achieves have barely changed. ”It is what I do that teaches me what I seek.” Pierre Soulages A garden designed to highlight the pure and contemporary architecture of this magnificent villa, located on the south bank of the Geneva lake. The large sloping lawn hit a high hedge of Eleagnus which hid the view of this seaside garden. The expert transcription of nature and the idealized portrayal of the world and the universe is the ultimate exercise in which the settled man is closest to imitating the story of Creation. The concept of this project was to develop a garden by extending the pure and contemporary architecture of this magnificent villa designed by Boris Buchet and locate on the swiss shore of the Geneva lake.