Jardin de la Connaissance / 100Landschaftsarchitektur
© Thilo Folkerts
Architects: 100Landschaftsarchitektur
Location: Quebec, Canada
Directors in Charge: Thilo Folkerts, Rodney LaTourelle
Collaborators: Laura Strandt, Maike Jungvogel
Realization on site: Johanna Ballhaus, Elisabeth and Jessica Charbonneau, Sandrine Perrault
Project Area: 250 sqm
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Rodney LaTourelle, Thilo Folkerts
© Thilo Folkerts
The Jardin de la Connaissance is a temporary garden in a forested area involving approximately 40,000 books, multi-coloured wooden plates and several varieties of mushrooms.
In reference to the festival’s theme of paradise, there are exposed the tree (of knowledge) as the central semiotic theme of the paradisiacal garden. Rather than reopening a way through the proverbial enclosures, the design team is interested in its manifold textures. From the single tree of knowledge they have gone to the many of the forest; from one truth to the plenitude of multimedia and the overwhelming world of information. The ‘Garden of Cognition’ does not illustrate a ‘return to nature’ or attempt a ‘biblical’ reconciliation, but its intention is to provide a platform to experience and frame the forest of the many in a unique and compelling way. The garden engages the mythical relation between knowledge and nature integral to the concept of ‘paradise’. By using books as material in the construction of the garden, they confront these instruments of knowledge with the temporality of nature. And by exposing these fragile and supposedly timeless materials to transformation and disintegration, they also invite an emotional involvement of the visitor. The book assemblages establish a framework amidst the forest that embodies a variety of experiential activities. The Jardin de la Connaissance becomes a sensual reading room, a library, an information platform, a dynamic realm of knowledge.
sketch
Books
The Jardin de la Connaissance is built from a large quantity of discarded books that form walls, benches, and carpets. Based on an open compositional principle, these elements are assembled to create a garden space, integrating it with the site and the structure of the forest. The orthogonal organization is reminiscent of a Neo-Plastic composition from the early 20th Century, invoking an optimistic orientation based on ‘primary’ elements. And yet, this ‘utopian’ notion is countered by the gradual decomposition of the paper material.
Bookmarks
The structure of the book-volumes is interspersed, marked and structurally supported by brightly coloured wood plates, which bind the individual book-stacks together.
The bright, artificial colours of these elements complement the changing tones of the exposed paper in the books and the surrounding forest. The markers form a discrete linear composition suspended between the books. Thus they also create a luminous spatial signage, inviting visitors into the garden. Placed on the benches, some also serve as elements on which the visitor can sit.
© Thilo Folkerts
Mushrooms in the garden
Mushrooms
Extending the theme of transformation and providing an additional element in the semiotic field of cultural and natural knowledge, mushrooms add an additional materiality to the garden. Knowledge about the cultivation of mushrooms is – with the exception of the Japanese shiitake (ca.1000 years) and the button mushroom (ca.350 years) – rare and quite new. The cultivation of other mushroom varieties has begun only in recent decades. Eight different, edible mushroom varieties such as Winecap or Oyster mushrooms are cultivated within particular books and are nourished by the book walls. The mushrooms are pre-cultivated from spawn-sets and prepared for insertion in the book walls in well-watered book bundles. The mushrooms will be watered and humidifi ed on a regular basis. The mushrooms enrich the theme of the post-paradise life cycle. This also responds to the temporal nature of the garden installation within the framework of a temporary garden festival.
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- © Thilo Folkerts
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- © Thilo Folkerts
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- © Thilo Folkerts
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- © Thilo Folkerts
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- © Thilo Folkerts
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- © Thilo Folkerts
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- © Thilo Folkerts
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- © Rodney LaTourelle
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- sketch
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- Mushrooms in the garden
The concept reads far too literally but I’m tempted to book a visit to see it in person
Quite interesting in the use of discarded materials and living matter, I’d like to see how it ends up looking after a period of weathering and growth.
Thank you for posting this article. Lately we’ve been looking for interesting ways of books’ “alternative usage” and have started posting them (of course indicating the source as well) on our bookstore’s facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/zugloitankonyvcentrum
I would love to find out more can you point me in the right direction to find more information?
8:04 AM Aug 15th
Jardin de la Connaissance / 100Landschaftsarchitektur: © Thilo FolkertsArchitects: 100Landschaftsarchitektur Locat… http://bit.ly/cYlVnm
8:05 AM Aug 15th
【archi info】 Jardin de la Connaissance / 100Landschaftsarchitektur http://dlvr.it/3q6lr #Landscape (archdaily) #rental_archiinfo
9:05 AM Aug 15th
Jardin de la Connaissance / 100Landschaftsarchitektur | ArchDaily http://bit.ly/b8p7k1
9:12 AM Aug 15th
構造に本か。この発想はなかった。http://bit.ly/dtstD5
10:06 AM Aug 15th
Jardin de la Connaissance / 100Landschaftsarchitektur: © Thilo FolkertsArchitects: 100Landschaftsarchitektur Locat… http://bit.ly/dozvN2
11:15 AM Aug 15th
Jardin de la Connaissance / 100Landschaftsarchitektur http://dlvr.it/3qN0p
6:45 AM Aug 16th
Jardin de la Connaissance / 100Landschaftsarchitektur http://archdai.ly/aTA64p #architecture #landscape /via @archdaily
12:05 PM Aug 16th
@nini_nu_13 Jardin de la Connaissance / 100Landschaftsarchitektur | ArchDaily http://t.co/sZEfY7P via @archdaily
7:40 PM Aug 16th
#Different "The Jardin de la Connaissance is a temporary garden in a forested area involving approximately 40000 books" http://bit.ly/d1ejDP
2:00 AM Aug 17th
#Arte – Jardin de la Connaissance / 100Landschaftsarchitektur http://ow.ly/2qhun #arts
3:09 AM Aug 18th
The theme: Post-paradise life cycle. http://www.archdaily.com/72833/jardin-de-la-connaissance-100landschaftsarchitektur/
12:57 PM Aug 25th
The ultimate combination of books and composting – a book garden: http://bit.ly/ddubHH
1:10 PM Aug 25th
Jardin de la Conaissance: a self-composting installation made of books and mushrooms http://bit.ly/dtstD5
1:27 PM Aug 25th
RT @yo_matty: Jardin de la Conaissance: a self-composting installation made of books and mushrooms http://bit.ly/dtstD5
2:21 PM Aug 25th
"Garden of Knowledge" – books + nature in Quebec http://bit.ly/dtstD5
4:42 AM Aug 26th
Two designers have built a literal garden of 40,000 books in a Canadian forest: http://bit.ly/a47U1F via @LaurenElkin @GalleyCat
6:48 AM Aug 26th
Reading: "Jardin de la Connaissance / 100Landschaftsarchitektur | ArchDaily"( http://twitthis.com/i4p7n9 )
6:50 AM Aug 26th
RT @RebeccasBooks: Reading: "Jardin de la Connaissance / 100Landschaftsarchitektur | ArchDaily"( http://twitthis.com/i4p7n9 )
9:48 AM Aug 26th
Turning 40,000 discarded books into a mushroom forest: http://bit.ly/ddubHH (via @GalleyCat)
1:15 PM Aug 26th
The Jardin de la Connaissance, a garden of 40,000 books in a forest in Quebec, was designed to make a statement: http://bit.ly/9p6kqv.
1:18 PM Aug 26th
RT @nationalbook: The Jardin de la Connaissance, a garden of 40,000 books in a forest in Quebec, was designed to make a statement: http://bit.ly/9p6kqv.
1:31 PM Aug 26th
RT @nationalbook: The Jardin de la Connaissance, a garden of 40,000 books in a forest in Quebec, was designed to make a statement: http://bit.ly/9p6kqv.
1:53 PM Aug 26th
RT @nationalbook: The Jardin de la Connaissance, a garden of 40,000 books in a forest in Quebec, was designed to make a statement: http://bit.ly/9p6kqv.
3:39 PM Aug 26th
I love this, a garden of books! Mushrooms growing on them. courtesy nationalbook http://bit.ly/9p6kqv.
3:49 PM Aug 26th
@kmgovier we like too! http://bit.ly/9p6kqv Reminds us of The Paper House by Carlos Maria Dominguez http://bbc.in/cP7lMY
4:51 PM Aug 26th
Thanks @GalleyCat, for turning us on to this ethereal Garden of Books. Awesome! http://tinyurl.com/28lpubp http://fb.me/tdUxODvR
5:51 PM Aug 26th
Look! It is a real Garden of words! http://www.archdaily.com/72833/jardin-de-la-connaissance-100landschaftsarchitektur/ #books
5:55 PM Aug 26th
In Quebec: a beautiful sculpture garden made of books! I wonder if any of our books our in there… http://tinyurl.com/28lpubp
6:33 PM Aug 26th
Cool "garden of books" in Quebec: http://ow.ly/2vrGZ
5:02 AM Aug 30th
40.000 kitap kullanılarak inşa edilen özel bir bahçe http://bit.ly/90uHq7
2:56 PM Aug 30th
RT @bibliomannn: 40.000 kitap kullanılarak inşa edilen özel bir bahçe http://bit.ly/90uHq7
12:45 AM Sep 2nd
RT @RinglingLibrary: Here's our favorite quote about this fascinating project which is an architectural installation of 40,000 books in… http://fb.me/CHVDADfi
3:41 PM Sep 9th
So kann man es auch machen: http://www.archdaily.com/72833/jardin-de-la-connaissance-100landschaftsarchitektur/
6:47 PM Oct 14th
Arquiteto-paisagista cria jardim de livros para festival de jardins em Quebec http://acessa.me/pt6