1:1 landskab: The Nordic sky is very special. It has a subtle intensity that creates the special Nordic light. The often changing colors of greys and blues have a simple understated powerfulness. Nordic design could be described with the same words and it is our ambition is to create a garden that reflects that kind of uncomplicated aesthetics you find both in the Nordic light and in Nordic design. A rectangular room is created in a “forest” of Spruce trees and ground covers of Wild Strawberries. The room is thought as a democratic room for informal interaction without any hierarchy.

You enter the room from a hallway paved with black tiles though an opening in a rustic screen of stacked logs. The room is furnished with a grid of Willow trees in various sizes and surfaced with gravel. As a backdrop, at the end of the room, a glass screen is set up featuring an image of a Nordic sky. The sky on the glass screen is visible under the tree canopies, eliminating the horizon, and the sky going all the way down to the ground creates a dreaming “world’s end”-setup. Strong contrasts in textures and colors are playing an importing role in creating the right ambiance. Contrasts such as the dark Spruce ‘forest’ versus the light Willow trees, dark tiles versus light gravel and the ‘heavy’ rustic log screen versus the light ‘sky’ glass screen are all contributing to the creation of a unique garden based on few simple elements but full of atmosphere.

Landscape Architecture: 1:1 landskab
Location: Chaumont-sur-Loire, France
Year of completion: 2008
Client: Chaumont-sur-Loire, garden competition
Area: 230 m2
Budget: 11.000 euro
Images&text: 1:1 landskab