Arriving on Site
In the late winter months of 2023, we arrived at the garden for the first time with a group of students. Without knowing much about the site and its living systems such as soils, vegetation and water, we started with a variety of fieldwork tasks to explore the site. For example, the students dug out soil profiles, examined water flow and surveyed the perennial plants on the topsoil deposit. What can best be seen in the video is the marking of the root zones around the trees and the marking of the contour lines. As a rule of thumb, the roots cover the space of 2 meters around the tree crown. Therefore, we are neither allowed to dig nor to disturb the soil in this area. The video shows a quick run-through of this first day of fieldwork from 2nd of March 2023.
After the fieldwork activities, we asked the students to translate their findings into a drawing to create a foundation on which to design. The method of drawing is thus an essential task for landscape architects studying living systems. Below you find a selection of drawings and documentation after the first day of field work.
Student's drawings about their first day of fieldwork, Chair of Being Alive, 2023
