Saihō-ji (西芳寺)

Professor Joseph Volpe,Maozhu mao

The Saihō-ji, the formal name "Kōinzan Saihō-ji"(洪隠山西芳寺) is one of the oldest garden in the world. The garden is famous for its more than 200 species of moss in the garden. The temple was first used as a temporary place for the Mikado (Japanese emperor), after several years, it becomes a temple. It’s in Kyoto a city with a long history, so the temple also gets a long history, it had been destroyed several times because of the fire, war and flood, but people always rebuilt the temple, get some changes there and also improve the garden.

From 1928, the temple is open to the public but after July 1977, people who want to visit there have to make appointment several weeks before he actually get there and only after the Buddhist ceremony. You get only about one hour’s time to experience the beauty of the garden. So in this way, the garden minimized the number of people and gets good protected. 

Two pine trees here at the entrance of the garden, is almost a typical Japanese thing in old garden with the beauty of age.The shape of pine trees are heavily pruned with great care, to create this certain form.

The cherry blossom here gets multiple trellises to get control the form of the cherry, making it smaller. In the historical garden, everything is about control. To control the plants means you understand the plats and work with their habits finally change them.

The Japanese prefer to get a cleaner place, so you have to wear appropriate shoes in different situations. And you can see water channels are everywhere, they follow the edge of the architecture, collect the rain water from the roof.

The Japanese have a kind of love – the love of age. They respect the elders and also respect the old plants, old buildings. So people here do all what they can do to keep the old tree alive. Like setting up some trellis to support the trees just as the image shows you.

Mosses are so beautiful that they are everywhere. There have over two hundred species of moss cultivated. Moss is a kind of plant that needs high maintenance, they cannot live even a tree leave fall from the branch and covered on it.

Carefully look at this path, you can see some stone in the path way get different color, that’s because the stones which are brighter means they are the replacement. Those stones are carefully picked to keep the path in the original way.

The little path here allows people to experience the gorgeous moss land and the plants around and finally ended at teahouse.

The plants here in the picture is azalea, they never let it grow wild. The blooming can only last for several days as a great celebration and cut the flower to avoid the adventitious bugs. The only reason why they take that form is because it’s blooms in that form.

The water in this garden is kind of muddy, but the little island there still plays an important role in the garden. The little bridge there also become a part of the beautiful scenery.

The garden is more than a place with old trees, moss, and water there. It’s also a place for people to think, get meditation in the green world build up with moss. In 1994, Saihō-ji was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as part of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto".

Park Guell

Although Antoni Gaudi’s career flourished at the turn of the 20th century, his work at Park Guell demonstrates that his mind was leaning towards the 21st century. The park features radical biomorphic forms that are concerned with strength of structure and ergonomics of the human body. From plan view to structural elements, we can see this biomorphic form present.

The incline of the roads had to be gradual enough to allow travel by horse and carriage. Gaudi deals with the incredibly steep grade of the site by creating a long, meandering pathway that gently slopes to the top of the site.

Gaudi’s use of the biomorphic form is quite radical for his time. He not only uses it in the site plan, but carries it into the structures in the park as well.

Gaudi was a fantastic engineer. Although many structures in the park appear to be haphazardly built, the use of the biomorphic form actually reinforces the support system of these structures. Undulating and sloping walls provided a more supportive base than their rectilinear counterparts.

  

This skill in engineering allowed Gaudi to build creative and incredibly sturdy structures that appear to be at risk of toppling over any second. He used dowels and cement to solidify these structures.

    

 

These techniques provided Gaudi with the ability to make even structures made out of heavy stone to appear light and delicate.

The use of the biomorphic form also allows him to mimic the nature in the site, like palm trees. The planters along the roads and the undulating walls have elaborate palm tree decorations made from various sized stones and cement. Their top heavy, biomorphic form serves as a support system for the walls while also serving as elaborate decoration.

Finally we come to the great gathering space.

The continuous bench that wraps around the entire space is similar in shape to the plan view of the site. Gaudi was very intrigued by ergonomics, so these benches reflect the biomorphic contours of the human body.

These benches, featuring back supports and arm rests, are designed for the comfort of the human body. Gaudi contrasts tile - a very hard material - with the soft and comfortable design.

Even the pattern of the benches is wildly elaborate. The rigid mosaic pieces are broken up and rearranged to mimic the biomorphic form of the benches they cover. From far away, they no longer read as individual tiles, but rather one flowing mass of color from one to the other.

Gaudi was an elaborate designer, using engineering to reinforce the support of his new, creative ideas. The use of biomorphic form was radical for his time, yet in Park Guell, he used it plan, structures, and even the smallest details.

       

This new way of designing broke all of the rules of the time. Gaudi takes the rigid, conventional building styles that were typically used, and quite literally flips them on their head. Although he was a designer around the turn of the 20th century, we can say that Gaudi was a designer of the future that paved the way for new, radical ideas in landscape architecture.