Asian Culture Complex

2005 - Gwangju, Korea

Asian Culture Complex

Gwangju, Korea

CLIENT Executive Agency for Culture Cities / MCT / SIZE 118,170 m2 / STATUS Competition, honorable mention, 2005 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / iArc, LLP

The Asian Culture Complex should be a place where new culture emerges, rather than manufactured by institutions. Emergence can be achieved by maximizing social contacts, in other words, network complexity. As an urban strategy, differentiation of the whole site into smaller parts is executed by continuing existing and neighboring urban fabric, further being transformed by programmatic interpretations. Then the parts are connected with each other according to specific relationships between sub-programs, forming a 3D complex of nested networks. Two distinct network organizations emerge out of it; programmatic network (shop¬ping, eating & drinking, learning, conferencing, showing & playing, working and living) and ecological network (park, water and wind). The interest is in generating urban capability of producing a flexible system that is dynamically adaptable, a creative system that can adjust itself freely to temporal events and urban challenges. The differentiated connectivity of each network plays a vital role in modulating its emergent system. The question of what is culture and what is Asian will be constantly redefined and re-generated by means of this new urban system

The technique of generating a form for composites of landscape and architecture is instigated from close reading of spatial organization of existing urban fabric. Seemingly random urban development which pervades the central district of Gwangju, in fact, reveals an intricate sys¬tem of connected interstitial spaces. Alleys, courtyards, plazas, sometimes a large private front yard for an institution, are interconnected each other, bounded by elaborate randomness of buildings around. The relationship between buildings and open spaces is reinterpreted as positive/negative of a relief and generates a latent 3D pattern for a new typology between landscape and architecture.

Arverne

2001 - New York, NY, USA

Arverne

New York, NY, USA

CLIENT Architecture League of New York / SIZE 100 acres / STATUS Yale Design Charrette, 2001 / DESIGN TEAM Yale School of Architecture Team, Balmori, Deborah Burke, Peggy Deamer, Keller Easterling.

Arverne, a housing proposal produced as part of a Yale competition with Deborah Burke, Peggy Deamer, Diana Balmori and Keller Easterling in collaboration with two other universities and a Dutch team, was an attempt to influence developers building housing on the site.

Balmori’s contribution to the work was based on the site’s present condition and the prospect of rising water levels over the next eighty years. Taking into account the rising sea levels and already yearly floods makes this a reinvented site. Water drainage becomes the leitmotif for its reinvention. Even its dunes, nearly destroyed by misuse, have to be recreated and protected.  The houses were placed on stilts facing the street with only a garage at the ground level. At their backs, they were lined up along a swale (or small stream) that filtered and drained gray water, as well as any flood water, from the site. These swales were used as backdoor public gardens (in addition to their drainage function). They vary in length and planting throughout the seasons.

240 Central Park South

2008 - New York, NY, USA

240 Central Park South

New York, NY, USA

CLIENT Douglas Lister Architect / SIZE 13,000 sf / STATUS Completed 2008 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates

The green roofs and entry courtyard of 240 Central Park South pull the character of Central Park through the building and up to the roof. Contoured ribbons of shrubs and sedums are interwoven with lines of slate, mimicking the rock outcroppings in the park. 

This landscape is designed to be experienced from multiple viewpoints. Visitors walking by the building catch glimpses of the cherry trees peaking over the parapet wall, while tenets inside the building are surrounded by the rolling ribbons of plants.  From the neighboring buildings and apartments above, the multiple levels of rooftops appear to join together into one unified landscape.

Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House

2002 - Washington, DC, USA

Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House

Washington, DC, USA

CLIENT National Competition for Government Services Administration / STATUS Competition 2002 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates

The National Capital Planning Commission initiated a competition to create a plan for a safe and beautiful civic space on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. Currently blocked with jersey barriers and police cars, the avenue has not been open to vehicular traffic since President Clinton ordered it closed in 1995 after the Oklahoma City bombing.  In light of increased national security, the competition sought innovative solutions to integrate security with urban landscape design.

Balmori Associates proposal reinstates Pennsylvania Avenue’s civic prominence.  The plan uses subtle grading shifts to visually elevate the White House and provide security at the intersections of 15th and 17th Streets.  The expanse of the former six lane road is transformed into a dignified pedestrian boulevard through a rhythmic placing of trees, urban furniture and atmospheric lighting. Directly in front of the White House, Pennsylvania Avenue is lowered slightly to reveal three steps. This inflection creates a platform and frames a view of the White House.  The elegant bowing of the grade smoothly reverses itself by rising at the ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to provide the required security barrier in the form of a civic entry staircase.  This promenade is easily converted from a pedestrian plaza to a parade route for inaugurations and other events and guard posts are integrated into a separate security and future trolley circulator on the Lafayette Park side of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Park(ing) Trenton

2006 - Trenton, NJ, USA

Park(ing) Trenton

Trenton, NJ, USA

CLIENT State of New Jersey, Department of the Treasury, Division of Property Management and Construction / STATUS Competition Entry 2006 / SIZE 53 acres / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates, ACT Engineers, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, Alan Dye , The Bioengineering Group, City Smiles, Ear Studio, Guy Nordenson and Associates, Urban Trees + Soils

This is a park created out of land liberated through the consolidation of existing surface parking into a stacked system. The newly gained elevation from the parking garage re-creates the bluff that once existed behind the state house, providing a fantastic view of the Delaware River. From this new bluff a gentle descending slope crosses the boulevard and brings you to the river’s edge.

This project is about the creation of a new identity for Trenton’s Capitol Complex through a landscape that unites and relates to the historical context without being tied to the historical concept of a park.

For this competition, we met with local community groups in order to better understand the needs of local users. Our goal was to work with these groups as well as others to ensure that the park is one which serves the people of Trenton. Biking, walking, bird watching, sunbathing, school groups learning about the New Jersey plants and history, these are all activities envisioned for Trenton’s new park.

10 Li Park

2007 - Seoul, Korea

10 Li Park

Seoul, Korea

CLIENT Multi-functional Administrative City Construction Agency of Korea / PROJECT AREA 2,700,000 m2 / STATUS Competition Finalist, 2007 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates, Inc. / Joel Sanders Architect / MAD office Ltd. / EXE Ltd.

10 Li Park evolves from the overlay and intersection of a central park, a linear park, and architecture. The central park is a space for recreation and experiencing nature, while the linear park “climbs” the nearby mountains, extends onto the river, and weaves through the site to connect the various areas of the immense site. Architectural elements exist at the interface of these two typologies binding them at their most significant intersection. It is a fresh interpretation of each typology that results in new spatial and programmatic strategy for occupying the landscape. The 10 Li Ring combines historical, natural and constructed order of the river, the levee and Public Administration Town (PAT). Li is a traditional Korean unit to measure distance; 10 Li becomes a tool to engage the spatial experiences of the park.

The Ring is a ‘Museum Mile’ that connects 3 of the planned facilities; a line of culture that creates a porous public boundary between the various landscapes and the architecture. The Li-near Loop is the primary line in the park’s succession and growth. All program and park spaces develop out of this loop in time. It is the primary circulation path and an ecological corridor for habitat, filtering, cleaning and purifying air and water; an active environmental engine. In order to maintain a continuous park surface that links to the river and the 10 Li Ring, traffic through the park is placed under this surface before emerging and linking with PAT’s road network.

Super Duper Mare

2008 - Weston Super Mare, UK

Super Duper Mare

Weston Super Mare, UK

STATUS Competition Entry 2008 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates, Work AC / PHOTOS Courtesy Balmori Associates, Work AC

Birnbeck Pier’s history is re-imagined as a Twenty-First Century Victorian Pleasure Garden, where landscapes offer a multi-programmed architectural lattice of recreation and event spaces. Birnbeck Island blossoms with activity and life- programmatically through the creation of an island of leisure and diverse activities that include clubs, concerts, spa and hotel – with a series of thematic and distinctive gardens that mirror the landscapes of the region.

We imagine the island’s activities matched with its natural environment and sustainable systems, creating a unique destination combining the excitement of massive events with the serenity of garden strolling. The project will be primarily serviced with sustainable systems that include a wind and tidal power generation. We propose many of the island’s activities to occur with the tidal cycle rather than night-day. Inspired by sources as diverse as the clumps of mussels found in the Severn Estuary, the rock formations of East Quantoxhead and Kilve, and the ecotones of the region, our design concept creates a new statement for Weston Super Mare through programmatic “chips” that stack on top of each other to create areas such as the hotel and “pleasure cave,” or layered at different levels so that the overall effect and spatial configuration changes dramatically with the tide. Each “chip” is set deep enough to support abundant plant life as a green roof and generous space within it.

Princess Diana Memorial Fountain

2002 - London, UK

Princess Diana Memorial Fountain

London, UK

CLIENT The Royal Parks / SIZE 15,000 Sq ft. / STATUS Competition Finalist 2002  / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Atelier Ten / Atelier One / Price & Myers / Sam Price / Long & Kentish / Andrew Grant

To commemorate the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, the Royal Parks Agency invited proposals for a memorial in London’s Hyde Park; Balmori Associates was among the design firms short-listed.  The competition called for the design of a permanent memorial with a water element as well as a redesign of the surrounding area to contribute positively to the Hyde Park’s historic landscape and ecology.

Situated alongside the Serpentine and historic Serpentine Bridge, Balmori Associates’ proposal elegantly displays the process of water cleansing through a series of terraced water gardens and moss and lichen walls. Water taken from the Serpentine is naturally filtered through gardens of iris and native grasses. The water then aerates in a small garden pond before being drawn into a still reflecting pool, located in the Serpentine. The linearity and serene quality of the water plane contrasts with the dynamic Serpentine; the water is returned to its source. This ongoing purifying cycle provides a series of contemplative gardens and moments in which to reflect on the life and memory of Princess Diana, while enhancing the landscape and supporting ecology of Hyde Park.

Phoenix Island

2008 - Sanya, China

Phoenix Island

Sanya, China

STATUS Commissioned in 2008 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates, Inc. MAD Architects

Sanya Phoenix Island, located in Sanya China, covers an area of 300,000 square meters, with a total project investment of over 3 billion yuan, Phoenix island is an artificial island designed by Balmori Associates along with MAD architects. With high-level seven-star resort hotels and six hotel-style apartment complexes and a harbor for international passenger liners, the landmark will be the highest hotel in the region of Hainan. The underlying public space are tentacles that extend from the starfish, covering the ecological park. The island will represent the future of Sanya as the international tourism and resort city. Construction work is due to finish in 2014.

Pennine Lancashire Squared Accrington

2009 - Accrington, UK

Pennine Lancashire Squared Accrington

Accrington, UK

CLIENT Pennine Lancanshire Squared / STATUS Competition Finalist, 2009 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / s333 / QUATRO / Larry Barth

The Design for Pennine Lancanshire Squared competition aimed to protect and enhance Accrington’s strongest features, to incorporate new ones from its own history, and to create a distinctive and timeless space with elements, which strengthen the local character, offer new opportunities, and engender civic pride. Through Programmatic Elements Including Radio Free ACCY, a Speakers’ Corner the project brought people together aiding community cohesion.

Peel Square Market Hall has been made the new hub of Peel Square, cornerstone of its regeneration. The hub of activities planned inside and outside (radio station, incubator office, internet café, organic food organization, cabinet for Accrington history display, Speakers Corner, Accrington Pals memorial, see report) all make it the radiating center capable of spilling out in its surroundings and activating them in the form of citizen activities, of additional temporary market stalls, cafes, etc. The space has been designed accordingly as a very simple uncluttered expanse with good quality pavement, an abundance of benches -- which can be reconfigured for flexible spatial arrangements -- and strings of lighting creating a lit-up urban room out of Peel Square. These three elements can be phased. In the end regeneration is about quality of life. It can lead to attracting people to the town and keeping its young people in it. A beautiful place that gives a sense of place, many towns have found , can be the trigger for economic transformation.

 

Parque de la Luz

2005 - Canary islands, Spain

Parque de la Luz

Canary islands, Spain

CLIENT Ayuntamiento de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria / SIZE 4,000 acres / STATUS Competition winner, 2005 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Pelli Clarke Pelli

The Park of The Light is designed as a fundamental change of infrastructures, from a hard infrastructure of an ancient port to a soft one of living systems, producing a beautiful green belt in the middle of the water. This living system cleans the water, protects against the wind, and provides an inviting setting for visitors and residents. The park creates a remarkable postcard image of Las Palmas for the ships who anchor to his edge.

Bands of the interface between the sea and the ground, previously lost to urban development, are re-created to improve the quality of the water and diminish the environmental impact of the marina.  The straight angles of the bulkhead, which would normally accumulate sediment, are filled to become floating islands of vegetation. These refuges are in direct contact with the daily changes of the tides, forming diverse biological communities that contribute to the health of the water by oxygenating and purifying it from pollutants.

Separate channels at opposite ends of the marina promote flow-through currents, directing the flow of the water towards the center of the marina. This diminishes future costs by protecting the bulkhead structures from water erosion.

 

Olympics 2012 Equestrian Venue

2004 - New York, NY, USA

Olympics 2012 Equestrian Venue

New York, NY, USA

CLIENT NYC 2012 / SIZE 800 acres / STATUS Design completed 2004 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Joel Sanders Architect

Equestrian trails and pedestrian paths are laid across the Greenbelt Park of Staten Island, the proposed site for the 2012 Olympics equestrian venue. These paths connect to existing paths in the park, establishing a wide network that further links it to the various adjacent neighborhoods.

A sculptural earth mound provides an elevated pathway from which various events can be seen, and it organizes the layout of the venue grounds. It encloses the arena, creating a shelter from wind and flood, its slopes providing comfortable seating for spectators. In addition, it sets up the relationship between the ‘front of house’, the area that is accessible to spectators, and ‘the back of house’ area that is restricted to equestrian-related activities.

Past Olympic grounds have dictated strict separation of the two areas; this proposal, however, rethinks that philosophy. Functional separation is maintained through an elevated mound and a water channel that simultaneously allows perceptual integration with unobstructed views into these restricted areas.

After the Olympic Games, facilities such as the grand arena and stables would remain on the site and be incorporated into the Park as permanent elements to support further equestrian activity. Other facilities would be removed or re-programmed to fit the community’s needs. 

 

Chubu Cultural Center and Museum

2000 - Kurayoshi, Japan

Chubu Cultural Center and Museum

Kurayoshi, Japan

CLIENT Prefecture of Tottori / STATUS Completed 2000 / SIZE 20,000 square meters 210,000 square feet / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates

A mixed-use complex in the heart of Tottori Prefecture, the Chubu Cultural Center and Museum is intended to reinvigorate the city center and region.  The master plan for the project was designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates in collaboration with Balmori Associates.

The complex comprises a Performing Arts Center, Women’s Center, Museum and two major open spaces, the Kurayoshi Commons and an Outdoor Plaza, which are connected along the property line between the City and the Prefecture.  The Kurayoshi Library, also designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates, lies north of the landscaped Plaza, adjacent to the Cultural Center.

The Performing Arts Center accommodates a 1500-seat symphony hall, a 300-seat multi-purpose theater, a large rehearsal room and support spaces.  The Women’s Center includes a communications salon, children’s center, library and a wide array of seminar rooms.

The new Museum is a showcase for Tottori’s famous “20th Century Pear”, with a seriesof exhibits dedicated to the history and cultivation of this distinctive fruit.  The facility will also support a virtual reality theater.

The Kurayoshi Commons, a glazed public room 42 meters in height, is the central element around which all other components of the complex are organized.  It serves as a lobby for the performing arts facilities, as additional exhibition space, and as a forecourt for the women’s center, restaurant and shops.  Its design is expressive of both the City of Kurayoshi and the Tottori region. 

The Commons and the adjacent Outdoor Plaza offer ideal venues for public gatherings, concerts, fairs and festivals.  The diagonal plan geometry reflects the various city grids which cross the site.  The large wooden trusses that support the extensive glazing relate to indigenous construction techniques.  The paving designs  were based upon the traditional local kasuri fabrics that represented pine bark and fish scales. Nature translated into fabric that was in turn translated into granite paving.

Mobisle

2006 - New York, NY, USA

Mobisle

New York, NY, USA

CLIENT City of the Future 2016 /  STATUS Competition Finalist 2006 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates, Joel Sanders Architect, Consulmar 

Manhattan, by means of an elastic coastline, could become the most flexible and changing of cities over the next hundred years. Climate Change, with its raised level of waters in the Hudson and East Rivers, will bring about loss of shoreline. MOBIsLEs, a fleet of self-propelled islands that circulate around the periphery of Manhattan, can accommodate incremental change over the short and the long term. Our engineering proposal consists of a kit-of-parts built in a factory and literally shipped to the waterfront, composed of modular strips 50 ft. wide and eight ft. deep for open space and 150 ft. wide and sixteen ft. deep for built space. Through the use of water turbines with generators some of these islands can be self -propelled, others can harness the energy of the water to power their programs. Inspired by the logic of dominoes these modular strips come in 20 profiles that can be reassembled to achieve a variety of topographies. MOBIsles can overlap the coastline where the shore permits or they can link with an urban fabric by means of bridge-like extensions of existing street located at major east-west thoroughfares along the length of Manhattan. These access docks would function as recharging stations both for vehicles and for islands themselves.

Miami Performing Arts Center

2007 - Miami, FL, USA

Miami Performing Arts Center

Miami, FL, USA

CLIENT Performing Arts Center Foundation /  SIZE 5.8 acres / STATUS Completed 2007 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates, Pelli Clarke Pelli

The Performing Arts Center, a catalyst for a large urban revitalization project, is located within the Miami-Dade Empowerment Zone and houses a planned arts, media and entertainment district for Miami’s Omni-Venetia area. The Central Plaza for the Arts, designed by Balmori Associates, links the opera house, symphony hall, theatre, and Art Deco tower that sit on either side of the Biscayne Boulevard.  This urban plaza bisects Biscayne Boulevard, thereby creating connectivity between the built forms.  A wide variety of social and cultural public life is supported by the Plaza. 

Furthermore, it can transform from two courts bisected by vehicular traffic into a continuous outdoor plaza for outdoor events when the street is closed.  Landscape elements mitigate the changes in elevation, distinguishing elements from each other while creating transitions between others. Rings of plants and fountains at the plaza’s edge provide a transition between the street and buildings, which are elevated for purposes of flood protection. The fountain, designed by artist Anna Murch, draws upon wave paths to create a space that is animated even in the absence of water.

Metis Garden Festival

2011 - Grand-Métis, Quebec, Canada

Metis Garden Festival

Grand-Métis, Quebec, Canada

CLIENT Metis International Garden Festival, Reford Gardens / SIZE 150 m2 / STATUS Completed, 2011 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Consulmar S.R.L / Denis Pelli, Professor of Psychology and Neural Science, New York University

Water introduces a powerful horizontal allowing the eye to extend far over its flat surface and wide along the horizon, producing a particularly pleasurable experience which becomes an inseparable part of the landscape experience. We researched devices that manipulate the way one apprehends space and make the viewer more conscious of the act of seeing. The viewing device chosen for this demonstration is a tube or truncated cone (with both ends cut off). The cone restricting the visual field is implemented as a series of planes with a circular opening, the void gradually rising from the ground. When progressing through the frames towards the water focusing on the floating element the field of view opens itself, the horizon gets wider and infinite space offers itself to the viewer.

Magok Water (Works)

2007 - Seoul, Korea

Magok Water (Works)

Seoul, Korea

CLIENT The City of Seoul / SIZE 30 Acres / STATUS Competition Entry, 2007 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates

Water (Works) is a public park and an ecological infrastructure that is formally shaped by the flow of water. The park is a sophisticated network of ecological processes that weaves linear public space with natural and experimental technologies. Water (Works) is a working model of the park as an urban regenerator and prototype for future development. It is the green heart of the new R&D zone, an immersive environment of water remediation and a regional playground. Water (Works) is an ‘enhanced’ natural air and water cleaning infrastructure. Wetlands, phytoremediation, blackwater treatment and air cleaning trees form the basis of the layout and plantings. The living machine provides clean air, water and soil. Park paths and strips of program move alongside working wetlands, squash fields are framed by algae tanks and the convention center and marina are interlaced with the water system. The Marina engages the Han River, bringing it into the park as a lively recreational port. The Marina doubles as both social mixing zone and the final cleansing reservoir in the Water (Works). It is protected from summer flooding be a levee and gate system that serves as an outlook over the park and river. The nature of R&D is innovative and often unexpected. The sublime nature of the park posits the traditional park programs can coexist and thrive alongside cleansing and energy producing landscapes. Water (Works) is an educational park for children as well as an experimental think tank and laboratory for ecology and green technology.

 

Loring Park

1995 - Minneapolis, MN, USA

Loring Park

Minneapolis, MN, USA

CLIENT Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board / SIZE 25 acres / STATUS Completed 1995 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates, Brauer & Associates

In 2005, analysis of this centrally located historic park designed in 1896 by Horace Cleveland revealed that the urban and infrastructure growth of the past century had damaged its historic fabric. The changing character of the park's context required a new type of urban design.

By connecting the park back to the city, the subsequent redesign funded by the Minneapolis Parks Department became a catalyst for redevelopment of downtown businesses, residential areas, and civic institutions.

Athletic and recreational facilities added to the park over the years are now incorporated as treed areas. Pathways open the edges with new entrances reaching across the highway to a pedestrian bridge designed by Siah Armajani. The park's historical character is carefully restored while new modern amenities, such as a theatre performance area and a redesigned horseshoe court are inserted and treated as gardens. The park is re-centered on a Garden for Four Seasons on the site where the park's large greenhouses once sat, serving as the park's axis.

A major highway built along the edge of the park presented a challenge during design because of the noise it created. We proposed treatment of this section of highway with a material used for paving airport landing strips, which diminishes the level of noise by a significant percentage. In addition, the construction of an earthen berm significantly reduced highway noise.

Long Island Green City

2005 - Long Island City, NY, USA

Long Island Green City

Long Island City, NY, USA

CLIENT Silvercup Studios / SIZE 35,000 SF / STATUS Long Island Green City 2002-2003 (ongoing), Silvercup Studios completed 2005 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates 

This proposal developed as a result of a presentation given by Diana Balmori in June of 2002 at a conference entitled Case Studies of Greens in New York City. The network of elevated trains and roadways overhead provides a panoramic view of the 11.7 million square feet of rooftops (belonging mainly to one-story industrial buildings).

The study examines an increased urban population's effect on the natural environment. As cities expand and become increasingly populated, paved impervious surfaces multiply, leading to higher temperatures (heat-island effect) and increased storm water runoff, taxing the city's existing infrastructure. What resulted was the largest green roof ever installed in New York City and the first to monitor scientific data, the Silvercup green roof has been designed by Balmori Associates as the first of a series of green roofs planned for Long Island City over the next decade.  Balmori Associates conceived of and is implementing this plan for the neighborhood, dubbed “Long Island (Green) City.”

Expected benefits from the Silvercup green roof—which is equal parts roof garden, insulation system, and sponge—include absorption of air pollutants and carbon dioxide; improved outdoor air quality; increased energy efficiency and storm water run-off reduction (a particular burden to the sewer infrastructure of Long Island City); and, for the first time in New York, the gathering of data to quantify benefits. EarthPledge, a non-profit organization devoted to identifying and promoting technologies for sustainability, has installed the Silvercup roof research station. 

Bartscherer Garden

New York, NY, USA

Bartscherer Garden

New York, NY, USA

STATUS Under Design / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates

The townhouse garden extends the living and dining space of the kitchen into the landscape.  An elegant gravel platform floats in the center of the small garden.  Shifting the platform geometry maximizes the planting and gives movement to the garden.  A steel cabled trellis system anchors the garden, providing privacy and sculptural edges.  Vines climb the trellis, while tall perennials pierce through the openings to create an unexpected seasonal variation of color in several dimensions. 

The plantings follow a gradient of color, choreographed through all the seasons.  One may dine on the deck, entertain on the platform or sit alone amongst the plants in the back corner of the garden, experiencing the garden in various ways.  Pockets of plantings emerge from the garden screens for herbs and seasonal flowers.