We were taken with these modern gardens by landscape architect Dean Cardasis, Associate Professor at University of Massachusetts, Amherst and the Director of the James Rose Center. The playful yet refined use of built elements of the Durfee Garden and the Plastic Garden create special outdoor spaces year-round. Bartlett Court is a contemplative garden that highlights the geology and traditions of New England with a serene style reminiscent of Japanese gravel gardens.
Link: Dean Cardasis
Visit: UMass Amherst
The Durfee Garden at UMass Amherst
"A series of five contemporary interlocking garden spaces inspired by historic agricultural and landscape typologies"
"The translucent quality of the conservatory is echoed by screens that highlight members of an ancient grove while defining edges to a contemplative meditation garden."
"The entry courtyard and adjacent prospect overlook a glade. Here flat stones from the nearby Berkshire Hills and round stones from the Connecticut River Valley define the path, composing with an existing beech and spruce; as well as with new plantings of birch and mountain laurel."
"The glade contains ten different types of turf grasses, as well as over forty species of perennials on its borders. Pressed slightly into the earth and surrounded by sociable niches, the glade is further articulated by eleven eighteen foot tall translucent trellises upon which pink wisteria and morning glory twine."
"The space-defining screens continue to reveal a play of light, now at its lowest angles in relation to snow and rock compositions"
View Land+Living Maps in a larger map
Bartlett Court
"Whether viewed from inside the building or from a discrete gateway, the space is the subject. It provides a touchstone to imagine and invites contemplation on that which defines it."
"Rock fragments and assembled blocks of basalt tumble through the traditional New England walls onto the excavated peastone terrace, suggesting a moment frozen in place and weaving an original expression of retaining wall."
A Plastic Garden
"The Plastic Garden fractures space and light to create useful, playful space for a young family and the children of their neighborhood."
Playful, light-transforming, plastic panels reach out from the "plastic house" (clad in vinyl siding) and engage the woodland
failures of post modern landscape architecture
here is my "joke website"