GARDENLAB STUDIO

Art Center College of Design, Department of Environmental Design, Fall 2002

visit the art center community garden webpage here

students: kelly majewski, ellie bang, matt rowan, matthew carpenter, david dohren, michel berstein, michael crispen, jinny kim

the brief:

a place...
-to support the curriculum in all departments at art center
-for art center students to learn about our relationship with the land
-to create and design with living materials
-to watch natural and organic processes
-to study ecology and our environment
-for messy experimentation
-for art center students, faculty, staff and administration to gather outside
-that encourages patience
-that is slow
-for quiet inspiration
-to get our hands in the dirt

design teams:

1/ perennial gardens, 2/ community gardens, 3/ laboratory, 4/ open air class room, 5/ systemsresearch topics: a/ university and educational garden precedents, b/ soils, light, wind, c/ materials and technology, d/ plantings, e/ accd community, needs and desires

the program:

spaces for people:
-open lab space
an open space that may be used for installations and experiments on a term by term basis by any design or art studio at art center
-community garden plots
15-20 plots for individual use by selected art center students, faculty, staff or administration.
-open air classroom
a space for classes to meet in the garden lab with seating for at least 30
-perennial gardens
permanent gardens integrating seating and meeting areas

spaces for utility:
-toolshed - an enclosed secure place for storage of all tools and materials required for the maintenance and workings of the gardens
-composting center - a place for the composting of organic matter from the school cafe and campus clippings in a location with proximity to the access road
systems:
-irrigation system a system of drip lines and overhead sprinklers to irrigate the entire gardens with separate zoning based on water needs
-fencing barriers or fencing to protect gardens from local deer access
-footpath and signage to gardens from main art center building
-access drive signage from main art center road

lecturers & critics:
laura cooper artist, gardener, teacher "garden history"
jim folsom director, hunington gardens "plant biology"
yvonne savio manager, common ground garden program, university of cal. cooperative extension

bibliography:

biography:
rybczynski, witold / a clearing in the distance, frederick law olmstead / 1999

design:
bradley-hole, christopoher / the minimalist garden / 1999
church, thomas d. / gardens are for people / 1995
cooper, guy / paradise transformed: the private garden for the 21st century / 1996
cooper, guy / gardens for the future: gestures against the wild / 2000
moore, charles / the poetics of gardens / 1993

essay:
page, russell / the education of a gardener / 1962
pollan, michael / second nature / 1991
pollan, michael / botany of desire / 2001
walker, peter / invisible gardens

guide:
brenzel, kathleen norris, editor / sunset western garden book / 2001
mathias, mildred / flowering plants in the landscape / 1992
perry, bob / landscape plants for western regions / 1992
tenenbaum, frances, editor / taylor's master guide to gardening / 1994
welsh, pat / southern california gardening / 2000

history:
adams, william howard / gardens through history: nature perfected / 1991
conan, michel, editor / perspectives on garden history / 1999
hunt, john dixon / gardens and the picturesque / 1994
hunt, john dixon / the italian garden: art design & culture / 1996
hunt, john dixon / greater perfections: the practice of garden theory / 2000
shepherd, john chiene / italian gardens of the renaisance / 1986
solomon, barbara stauffacher / green architecture & the agrarian garden / 1988
steenbergen, clemens / architecture and landscape: great european gardens / 1996
teyssot, georges / the history of garden design / 1991

landscape:
birksted, jan / relating architecture to landscape / 1999
spirn, anne whiston / the language of landscape / 1998
monographs:
eggener, keith l. / luis barragan, gardens of el pedregal / 2001
saunders, william / daniel urban kiley: the early gardens the gardens of russell page / 1996

native:
francis, mark / the california landscape garden / 1999
lenz, lee / california native trees and shrubs / 1981
lowry, judith larner / gardening with a wild heart / 1999

regional:
streatfield, david c. / california gardens: creating a new eden / 1994
burton, pamela / private landscapes: modernist gardens in southern california / 2002
inaji, toshiro / the garden as architecture: japan, china & korea / 1998
listri, massimo / italian parks and gardens / 1996
slauson, david / secret teachings in the art of japanese gardens / 1991

periodicals:
california agriculture
the gardener's companion
garden design magazine