Beijing International Expo Garden

Beijing, China

Developed with Counts Studio, Brooklyn, NY

International Competition Winner

Path Garden, created for the Beijing International Garden Expo, explores movement as the primary generator of the garden experience. A continuously unfolding path moves horizontally and vertically through sculpted landforms and immersive planting, gradually lifting visitors into the tree canopy and creating constantly changing views. The garden challenges the traditional idea of the hortus conclusus, or garden as an inward looking and enclosed world, by fluctuating between moments of enclosure and openness. At times visitors are deeply immersed within the garden, while at others the path opens outward to incorporate borrowed landscapes, particularly views of adjacent gardens, into the experience. The result is a contemporary garden centered on movement, discovery, changing perspective, and an evolving relationship between inside and outside.