MDP presents a collection of its “suspended gardens” in an exhibition where it displays more than a dozen landscapes, all of them highly urban and seamlessly integrated into their architectural surroundings. These above-ground gardens, on a structure, with their unique geology, offer a radical insight into a paradox that is central to the studio: that a new kind of natural landscape can flourish even in the most developed urban environment.
Sketches, collages and models reveal the experiential approach that guides MDP. This approach, often experimental and constantly evolving, transforms hardscape spaces into archetypal gardens. Today, all the gardens in this exhibition have already been completed. From the Otemachi shopping district in Tokyo to the Ministry of Culture in Paris, these gardens are proof that technical limitations can be transformed into tools to create a new kind of natural landscape: one that is scaled, richly layered and resiliently adapted to meet contemporary climatic needs.
Throughout the exhibition, architects, philosophers, ecologists, and elected officials will come together for roundtable discussions on these “suspended gardens” and their deft blend of aesthetic, technical, and sustainable innovation.
Morland Mixité Capitale - Paris, France. Photograph by Jérémie Léon / Emerige.
Mareterra, Monaco
The dimensions and physical continuities of this new 6-hectare district make it similar to a natural peninsula. Considering it as a ‘landscape unit’, an endemic Mediterranean landscape, such as that observed around Monaco, is rigorously reconstructed. The creation of this naturalistic environment in a totally artificial context requires the installation of a substrate on the scale of a natural landscape, despite the extraordinary complexity of the built and underground maritime infrastructures. The artificial topography of the Hill makes it possible to create the critical mass of fertile soils necessary for the constitution of this landscape, covering an exhibition centre. Very fine levelling work is carried out on the thicknesses of the earth. The slope profiles are designed in line with the Mediterranean landscape. They offer the necessary conditions for planting large trees positioned according to the possible load descents on a slab structure, while integrating drainage and flow networks. High densities are prescribed, as in natural environments, for each planting layer, promoting a natural appearance during plant growth.
A coherence is established between the artificial reliefs, the soil created and the plant forms that are established there. The time of the development of the construction program is used to cultivate and prepare the vegetation that will be planted in the last years of the construction site. A cultivation contract allows the selected plants to be grouped in nurseries and acclimatized on a site by the sea. Aleppo pines and umbrella pines exceed 10 meters in height at the time of their transplantation. The prefabrication of this landscape is guaranteed by monitoring and selection carried out jointly with nurserymen and engineers specializing in botany and fertile land. The district of La Colline with its naturalist layouts is complementary to the district of Le Port with its orthogonal geometry.
Maquette de l’esplanade Paris de la Défense. Fotografía por Michel Desvigne Paysagiste.
Fontaine
While the landscape has a strong naturalist plant component, it is also an important fabric of public spaces. 3 hectares of quays, squares, steps, streets and promenades follow one another, all made with the same limestone. The fountain presents this rough stone, shaped by erosion, like a submerged soil crust. From this quarry residue located at the highest point of the Hill, water flows, following the slope of this artificial topography to the sea.
Otemachi, Tokyo
The Otemachi business district adjoins the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Its garden, at the instigation of the emperor, is hosting the transplantation of a real piece of the primary forest present in the surrounding mountains. Authorization to densify this business district will be given on the condition that it be punctuated with small urban forests having, like that of the imperial garden, a real ecological value. Inspired by this experience of concrete transposition of a landscape, a small forest of 3600 m2 has been installed at the foot of the new tower, on an entirely artificial ground, the roof of a station. The time of the construction site allows the preparation and adaptation of the numerous plant layers, selected with the help of botanists, in a mountainous terrain near Tokyo. When it was inaugurated, the urban forest, composed in particular of more than 200 trees, immediately imposed itself by the obviousness of its presence.
Belvédère- La fontaine. Photograph by Michel Desvigne Paysagiste.
Morland, Paris
The transformation of the former administrative city was designed in close collaboration with the architect David Chipperfeld. The north-facing courtyard, initially open, was transformed into an enclosed garden surrounded by a cloister. This choice had the unexpected effect of enlarging the space thanks to the depth of the vaults distancing the garden from the facades. The presence of underground parking lots induces a microtopography on the surface in order to provide the critical mass of soil necessary for planting. A densely planted landscape, a miniature forest with undergrowth plant species, is placed in the direct extension of the public space. The highest roof terraces accommodate a system of vertical cultivation which, artificially, multiplies the surfaces exposed to the sun, while remaining accessible to gardeners.
These hydroponic roofs recycle the building's grey water for the benefit of the plantations. This explicit artifice fades on a large scale, its lines superimposing themselves on the volumes of the building located on the banks of the Seine, 50 meters high and visible from afar. A strong formal contrast exists between the naturalist garden of the cloister and the technical device of the roofs, but each composes, in its own way, with the formal power of the building.
KEIO University, Tokyo
The new building of Keio University stands on the site of a garden designed by the Japanese sculptor Isamu Noguchi. The contemporary garden installed on the roof of this building pays homage to his works which propose abstract forms inspired by nature. A transposition work is carried out from the aerial image of a small river. This reinterpretation results in a garden composed of miniature groves and clearings, with varying densities, in which one can immerse oneself. This space does not correspond to any clearly identifiable geometric proposition. It is a kind of slab perforated by tall grass and trees. These forms of nature are the result of computer artifice.
A continuous fertile layer is placed under the mineral soil. The guardrails, immersed in the plantations and placed very far inside the roof, let the gaze of walkers slide into the distance towards the city and the sky. The garden is visually endless.
