Galician Forest Garden

A larger research investigates design methods of landscape architecture applied in the design of buildings. Central to the thesis are drawn design analyses. Besides a comparison for several case studies I develop a specific method of design research for each. In this case, in order to understand the landscape methods used by Architect Peter Eisenman at City of Culture my design experiment interprets the problem of this “ideal” city as the actual crisis of program. In this critical optic, I propose an alternative way of programming with a landscape attitude.

The giant 1990ties project, a rival to the “Bilbao-Effect” of Frank Gehry, turned into a headache of the real estate crisis. Of six large buildings only four are realised and the larges got “paralysed” by parliament in 2013. A 2000 seat Opera and a Contemporary Art Museum at the centre remain unfinished, together 55% of the main unusable building volume remains a void in the centre.

In this speculative section of the thesis, I propose an investigation into an alternative programme for the two unfinished buildings in the City of Culture. I propose a landscape design to experiment with architectural principles that Eisenman developed for the building programme. It proves how landscape design methods are applicable to architecture.

I design a living and developing landscape with the spatial and formal principles that Peter Eisenman developed for a city.

The proposed Galician Forest Garden is temporary. It enhances natural and cultural riches of Galician flora. The alternative core is a place for temporary urban farming. A tree nursery is developing local species to enhance forestry culture of Galicia and further parts of the Iberian Peninsula. A larger scale issue of mislead land use culture, that leads to frequent bushfires in the region, can be attacked on a research level.

The Galician Forest Garden is build up simple temporary constructions: Being temporary, it should not hinder the development of City of Culture nor alter the site’s proposed usage. Rather I develop a design that is showing its own temporality and that will be transforming throughout its yet undefined time of existence.

- PhD Research ‘Architecture with Landscape Methods’, Daniel Jauslin (2019)