Landscape architecture should once again become a source of aesthetic experimentation. We find inspiration in the 17th and 18th centuries when Great Britain was the testing ground for many experiments in landscape architecture. Landscape was the topic of intense aesthetic discourse and philosophical enquiry.
The essence of British landscape architecture was to reshape nature according to fashion and taste; the cult of the cultivar, the art of the artefact… ! Landscape was the domain of dandies, hermits and poets. The 20th century produced landscapes of little or no interest. The specific became general, the norm became the rule, landscape turned into environment. A delicate green tissue turned into a monstrous green blanket…
Originally published in ICON magazine
Issue 404 | 2007
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