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Jardim das Ondas
(Wave Garden)
Architect:
João Gomes da Silva
Artists:
Fernanda Fragateiro

Location and date of execution: Lisbon, Portugal, 1998

The "Jardim das Ondas" was born out of the dialogue between two disciplines: landscape architecture and fine arts. Architect and artist aimed their work at providing a recreational space for visitors to EXPO 98. Their intervention is part of the projected transformation of the bank of the Tagus River in Lisbon undertaken for the Universal Exhibition of 1998.

   
Click images to enlarge.

Directly inspired in the movement of water, the project was conceived as a grass garden where the terrain was strictly modeled as levels of curves that emulate the rhythm of the making and breaking of waves. The land is used as construction material, with grass as covering or finishing material. Both its relative proximity to the river and its positioning with regard to solar movements, enable this use and provide a place of contemplation. Water, light, and greenness turn thus into sensory matter that comes together in an open space.

The surface appears waved, excavated, or buried, according to a general strategy defined on the basis of two methods: the transformation of the terrain by means of systematic and rigorous bidimensional cuts, on the one hand, and mechanical modeling of the sandy ground, on the other. Once "in situ" and under the direction of the authors, practice demonstrated that the desired effects could be obtained by manual means. Aerial photographs or images taken from higher levels were used to assist the construction.

The covering was performed with rolls of grass, whose composition is predominantly Festuca ovina v. duryuscula, chosen because of its emerald colored tone and its resistance to treading. The surface was cut to an average height of 5 cm, while the sloped planes were left uncut, producing an intentionally differentiated texture. The whole surface is watered through a fixed, invisible, and automatic system, so that the materials resist the effect of the months in which Lisbon's Mediterranean climate tends to diminish their vitality.

Over a surface of approximately a hectare, the forms are like vibrations, elevations, and also great formations of green ground, which initially seem almost abstract. In contrast, as we move away, the general structure appears, and the distance allows us to understand that which, up close, seemed unintelligible.