The garden expresses both the power and fragility of such beauty, lightly symbolized in the form of a cloud-like canopy of white feathers. As Charles Darwin observed in his notebooks, feathers are a mysterious natural phenomenon – perfectly suited to their purpose, yet with a beauty which exceeds simple functionality. Feathers seem to embody an ideal of “design,” expressing both aesthetic and pragmatic values. They are watertight, insulating, and act to filter UV rays – an ideal material for a floating canopy. As a model of natural adaption, feathers also prompt the question of whether human beings can adapt to the current ecological crisis; the canopy is both a celebration of beauty and an implicit warning, hovering above our heads as we traverse the garden.

As a down-to-earth paradise, the garden is an expression of the WHY Landscape Workshop’s principle of Art and Wilding, a subtle interchange between unchecked nature and human intervention. The planting scheme is designed with birds in mind – among the various species of birches, ferns, and grasses are edibles such as viburnums, blueberries and artichokes, attracting wild birds and pollinators. Small bird houses provide a space to nest, and the pond at the center of the garden is inhabited by two black swans – a whimsical narrative twist on beauty and peril.

Worn out scaffolding and recycled asphalt shape the structure of the garden, reimagining human action as a productive frame for natural flourishing. The space is, in its way, a utopian paradise, an ideal of what could be. But it’s also a wholly terrestrial zone, a place which feeds, protects, and reminds us of our shared responsibility for the planet we inhabit.