The International Garden Festival is taking place at the Redford Gardens in Grand-Métis, Que., until Sept. 28, presenting 22 contemporary living exhibitions. Recognized as one of the leading garden festivals in the world, more than 110 gardens have been created since its inaugural 2000 presentation, and it has welcomed over 900,000 garden enthusiasts to their grounds. An innovative forum for experimentation in a host of landscape and design disciplines, the event has hosted over 200 designers from 15 countries to create and showcase cutting-edge, contemporary gardens.
The Rotunda by CITYLABORATORY, is an award-winning elemental garden “based on an atmospheric and poetic perception of materials, light, plants and the passing of time.”
Spanish design team Aurora Armental Ruiz and Stefano Ciurlo Walker conceived the idea for The Rotunda “as a device capturing the beauty of nature,” according to their website. “The intention is to transform the surrounding landscape into the garden itself by capturing what is outside its boundaries.”
Filled with water to create a reflective surface and left to evolve, The Rotunda is “sensible to changing light conditions, fluctuations in temperature and humidity, rainfall and evaporation.” The designers anticipate that the changing pool will be taken over by wildlife and nature, “leading to the cultivation and growth of new life within the garden.”
IMAGES via v2com, CITYLABORATORY