Garden In Movement

GILLES CLEMENT
By Brooke Bisset

To be seen in only one light is to remove the “vision” of the inquiring mind and to dull the senses of the revolutionary designer. To stifle the mind into a traditional way of thinking (i.e. traditional gardens such as Versailles) is to stop the process of exploring other creative ideologies.

The Gardens of Versailles – typical style of disciplined French landscaping to which we are accustomed to - formal and structured.

Why was Gilles Clement disregarded in some sectors of the gardening world such as in Britain where “his rejection of aesthetics as the primary determinant of design has perhaps been too alien for local tastes” ref (Planetary Gardens – The Landscape Architecture of Gilles Clement by Alessandro Rocca)?

Gilles Clement is a visionary, an independent spirit, an ecologist, environmentalist, naturalist, horticulturalist and in his own words, a simple gardener. In reality he is one of the most important landscape architects of the modern age. A “renaissance man” in the sense that he encompasses all fields and his vision of perfectly harmonious landscapes are set in nature, appearing “accidental”. Design is coincidental to the finished plan, letting nature take its course.

We have been taught to look to the past in order to move into the future and Gilles Clement has done exactly this. He has taken nature to be his “past” and with vision and passion has moved it into his designs. His strong belief in working as much as possible with, and as little as possible against, nature will help us solve problems in the future. Why aren’t more gardeners influenced by Gilles ideologies and seeing beyond only beautiful, facile solutions?

Due to today’s environmental constraints and ever changing climatic conditions his concepts of ‘The Garden in Movement’ and ‘The Third Landscape’ will lead to the ever evolving solutions to problems of over populated areas and loss of rural/natural environment.

Parc Andre- Citroen – ‘Garden in movement

Parc Matisse By Gilles Clement

Bibliography:

Planetary Gardens – The Landscape Architecture of Gilles Clement by Alessandro Rocca

http://www.beautifulbotany.com/Story%20Archives/Garden%20Design%20&%20Color/Visits%20-%20Parc%20Andre%20Citroen.htm

http://www.gardendesign.com/article/groundbreaker-gilles-clement

http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/clement.html

http://dmooredesign.blogspot.com/2009/04/planetary-gardens-landscape.html

The Contemporary Garden-Phaidon, 2009