Location: Grand-Métis / Quebec / Canada
Design team: Citylaboratory: Aurora Armental Ruiz & Stefano Ciurlo Walker
Images: Carlos Comendador
Client: Reford Gardens – Les Jardins de Métis
Design period: 2013-2014
Completion date: 2014
1st Prize International Design Competition

ROTUNDA is an elemental garden, based on an atmospheric and poetic perception of materials, light, plants and the passing of time. It is a reflection on the fundamental themes of the art of the garden.

 
Conceived as a device capturing the beauty of nature, the intention is to transform the surrounding landscape into the garden itself by capturing what is outside its boundaries.

The garden is to be filled with water at the beginning of its life and to be left to evolve over time, becoming a climate register device. It will be sensible to changing light conditions, fluctuations in temperature and humidity, rainfall and evaporation.

Water is used as a raw material to create a reflecting surface. The container is simply a frame that suspends water above the ground; a homogenous black object, assembled in a direct way, minimizing the expression of assembly joints and the contact with the ground.

The garden will over time accumulate leaves, dust and pollen, be inhabited by birds and insects, leading to the cultivation and growth of new life within the garden.