Jacques Wirtz

Back when I used to work for other design offices, one of my favorite "down time" activities was to grab a book and lazily leaf through the images, mining the text for design ideas.

One of my absolute favorite books was The Wirtz Gardens, chronicling the designs of Jacques Wirtz, a Belgian landscape architect and horticulturist.  The book has been out of print for years and last Christmas, when my folks asked for gift ideas, I hopefully nominated this item.  I was delighted to unwrap it on Christmas Day.  

If you're unfamiliar with Wirtz's work, he is most known for his luscious cloud hedges, typically made of Boxwood.  

These images are taken from his own garden, in an area that was for some time his laboratory.  Over the years, this boxwood allee almost took shape independently.  You can read more about the garden here.

 

If you want to read more about cloud hedges, check out fellow Arlingtonian Thomas Rainer's blog entry here.

...As designers, I don't think we're ever 100% satisfied with a 'finished' product -- there's always something we wish we could add, subtract or alter.  Similarly, our libraries are never finished -- there's always a new book we are lusting after!  This week - and perhaps through next week - I will be highlighting a few of the design books I love.  Some of them are in my library, while some are still on the wishlist.   

Fairytale Architecture

In case you missed it a few days ago The Design Observer Group posted a series of renderings by architects developing designs for various Fairytale structures.  It's a fun link.

The first is a house that should look like a chicken and thus is on impossibly high 'legs.'

The second installment is my favorite -- a drawing of Rapunzel's tower, complete with performance specifications like "Thorn Bushes Will Be Large Enough to Prevent Climbing by Infatuated Princes."

Finally, a very modern interpretation of Jack's Beanstalk House.

A fun exercise, I'd love to see more design studios have levity in their projects by incorporating something like this.  And those of us who have taken design studio courses know that, with an absence of budget or client, many of our studio projects already have a fairytale quality as it is!

Early Winter Textures

I was in Tenleytown in DC the other day and was struck by the combination of textures in this relatively ordinary urban garden. Unfortunately I only had my iPhone 3GS, which is beginning to feel the effects of 2 years of abuse (well...Not quite 2 years -- my contract is up in March at which point I can get a new phone at a discount!).

In any case, the Spirea thunbergii looks beautiful in autumn and it's easy to forget what lovely fall color it has.  The toasted honey hue looks perfect with the grasses flanking it on both sides.

As much as I love the look now, I'm not sure I'd ever combine S. thunbergii with grasses due to the way they'd look in spring or summer -- I'm not sure I'd buy that they'd look good together.  But I'll have to keep an eye on this garden come spring to reconsider.