L´Ile Verte
The concept for this garden is to use and underline the given situation of a lushly green island with a few subtle touches. We want to refresh the colours of the Terrain de la Vigie, reinforce its «green» character, and make it accessible to new visitors without interrupting its current use. To these ends we use the line as a basic garden theme that marks, designates and guides. The line marks contours or the topography of the island; it suggests directions, points and accentuates, it frames. Lines and limits are already part of the site and of the game of boule that is being played here by the sports club La Boule d’Or. We want to give them a new importance. Instead of reading the lines as separators, they will improve the comfort of the site and induce curiosity, they will enable a different perspective and open the site to discoveries. Along these lines also new plants are introduced, the lines densify and form benches or platforms. The use of scaffolding tubes for the construction answers to the temporary character of the installation and acknowledges the experimental value of the Lausanne Jardins event.
As much as the project is based on the existing situation of the site, it adds a refreshing new layer as a sign of renewal and contemporary rehabilitation. We are aiming to make the place greener, fresher. For this we are changing the idea of gardening along its literal and figurative sense: we are using shades of green whose names link with the vegetation that we bring in. We are thus gardening with mint and mint green, with anise and anise green, asparagus and asparagus green, sage and sage green, wormwood and absinthe green. In playing with these colours, we want to extend the vocabulary of gardening beyond that of plants and flowers; a use of green that marks evolution against time. During the seasons, the colours of the plants will approximate the colour of its painted name-bearers and leave it again into the infinite number of green tones.
The users of the site are finally its gardeners. The process of refreshment commences with the festival Lausanne Jardins, but there are many more elements that over time might profit from a new layer of green – and of a new idea of what a green garden might be.
