Gardens of the Future: Gestures Against the Wild Book

This book from the garden design team of Cooper and Taylor, Gardens for the Future, is subtitled "Gestures Against the Wild". In a sense, every garden is that--an attempt to introduce something of mankind into the indifference of nature. In the case of this highly impressive book, however, the gestures are made not only against the perceived chaos and entropy of nature, but also against the weight of history and tradition. Cooper and Taylor are concerned with gardens that are essentially avant-garde, radical or otherwise innovative. Many are concerned with architectural or sculptural forms: they range from tiny installations to vast Land Art projects scarcely to be regarded as gardens. The book comprises a theoretical introduction followed by a score of case studies examined in detail. Gardens with plants in them, gardens without. Gardens composed largely of mirrors or drifts of crushed coloured glass. Gardens composed around a thicket of undulating vertical aluminium rods. One of the finest is a breathtaking re-interpretation of a formal parterre in Spain, using the archetypal Mediterranean materials of wheat (in squares), olives, cypresses and vines. A most moving woodland garden designed to allow disturbed and traumatised children to learn to feel safe through play and exploration is another highlight. Although Cooper and Taylor largely eschew the technical vocabulary of academic garden design, the few terms they choose to use ("site dominant", "site adjusted" and "site generated") could have been more helpfully explained, as they make extensive use of them. That aside, this is a fascinating and ambitious book, sumptuously realised, which must consolidate its authors' place among the foremost chroniclers of visionary garden-makers. --Robin DavidsonRead More