Kathryn Gustafson is an American landscape architect known for her ability to create sculptural forms using earth, grass, stone, and water. Some of her most notable works include the Gardens of the Imagination in Terrasson, France, which takes visitors on a journey through the evolution of gardens throughout history in different sections representing styles like Versailles. She is guided by questions about the site's history and seeks to design spaces that promote community and accessibility.

1. Landscape Architecture
SEM 5
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T.Y.B. Arch

2. She has a personal way of going to the heart of the
matter and identifying what is required. Then she
devises landscape solutions that often seem
intuitive but are, in fact, rooted in serious research.
- Ar. Norman Foster(2)
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Kathryn Gustafson
American Landscape Architect
(1)
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Introduction
Her work includes the Gardens of the Imagination in Terrasson, France; a city square in Évry France; and the
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park, London. She has won awards and prizes including
the Millennium Garden Design Competition. She is known for her ability to create sculptural forms, using earth,
grass, stone and water. (3)
Selected Awards (4)
1. American Society of Landscape Architects: Gold Medal (2008)
2. National Heritage of the 20th Century (2007)
3. Finalist: Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards for Landscape Design (2005)
4. Royal Designer for Industry U.K (RDI: 2005)
5. Remarkable Garden (2004)
6. Design Merit Award (2003)
7. Chrysler Design Award (2001)
8. Honorary Fellow (1999)
9. Jane Drew Prize (1998)
10. Architectural Medal Decoration (1993)
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Design Philosophy
Gustafson has a list of questions for any project she undertakes: “Where’s the water? Is
there water? Who were the native peoples? And what are the myths? Each project is
born of the land it’s on, and of the people it’s for.” (2)
Gustafson-Porter’s site reads
We look for complexity in simplicity, producing bold schemes with a high degree of
textural and seasonal variation.
We put people at the heart of our designs; spending time understanding the local
community and listening to their needs. We strive to design simple, uncluttered and
barrier-free environments which promote choice, flexibility of use and enable
everyone to participate equally.(1)
water
myths don’t go
away – they
become silent
because
nobody is
listening. (2)
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Les Jardins de l'Imaginaire,
Terrasson-Lavilledieu, Dordogne Department of France
Designed in 1996 by landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson and architect Ian Ritchie, Les Jardins de l'Imaginaire
(Gardens of the Imagination) in Terrasson-Lavilledieu, in the Dordogne Department of France, is a public park
and contemporary garden, classified by the Committee of Parks and Gardens of the Ministry of Culture as one
of the Notable Gardens of France.

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Les Jardins de L'imaginaire is set in a natural setting to
explain the evolution of gardens throughout history.
Gustafson says, "the site plays host to a series of elements
which evoke the history of the Garden across the ages and
continents. These elements present a selection of the
growing volume of information about gardens: historic,
modern, and vernacular.”
"The mayor wanted Terrasson to become a tourist
destination, someplace for tourists to stop on their way to
the caves. [He] wanted the gardens of the world, he
wanted a little Italy, he wanted a little Versailles, a little
Japan, and very Disney-esque. And not at all the
honorable, historical approach that France is known for…”
she continued.(6)
“We came into the competition
saying you cannot buy history. But
one thing you can do is explain
history"
Design
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This is contemporary garden making at its most delicious and intriguing. It
uses 13 evocative paintings of myths and legends related to the universal
history of gardens;
the axis of winds; perspectives; elementary gardens; the sacred wood; the
tunnel of vegetation; the theatre of greenery; the water garden; the terraces
of moss; the topiary garden; the rose garden; the iris garden; fountains,
cascades, and basins. It uses simple natural elements; trees, flowers, water
and stone to suggest the passage of mankind from nature to agriculture to
the city. (2) (7)
Design
Visitors are taken on a journey through time and space, with sections that evoke the formality of Le Nôtre*,
with a rose garden, a "sacred wood", an amphitheatre, a hi-tech modern greenhouse, a mossy woodland and,
most joyful of all, a water garden of spouting jets - both tall and short. (7)
It is not a huge
garden, but so
packed with meaning
that most visitors take
a guided tour.
(1)
* André Le Nôtre was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. He designed the park of the Palace of
Versailles, and his work represents the height of the French formal garden style.(8)
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In regards to the principles of landscape architecture,
• Unity
• Line
• Form
• Texture
• Colour
• Balance
• Simplicity and Variety
• Emphasis
• Sequence
Principles of Landscape Architecture
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Line of Sight
Balance, Simplicity and Texture Texture
(3)
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Symmetry, Sequence and Colour
Line, Texture and Form
(3)
(1)
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(1) - http://www.gustafson-porter.com/design/
Bibliography
(2) - http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/ideas/sky-mine?page=full
(3) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Gustafson
(5) - "Terrasson - Garden of the Imagination" by Grahamec - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Terrasson_-_Garden_of_the_Imagination.jpg#/media/File:Terrasson_-
_Garden_of_the_Imagination.jpg
(4) - http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/kathryn_gustafson
(6) - http://www.nationalbuildingmuseum.net/pdf/gustafson_summary.pdf
(8) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Le_N%C3%B4tre
(7) - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/france/parisandaround/733222/France-gardens-of-the-
imagination-continued.html
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