2020 INT. GARDEN FESTIVAL WINNER

Augmented Grounds is a winning competition entry of the International Garden Festival 2020. Designed by Soomeen Hahm Design, Yumi Lee and JaeHeon Jung, it is a landscape design installation inspired by traditional Métis sash that uniquely combines technologies in its making process.

“The project utilised augmented reality and cloud-based digital twin communication platforms in order to realise the construction during the pandemic,” according to the architects.

“The project celebrates the fast and intuitive communication between designer and maker, utilising the digitally augmented human labours crafting the delicate material onsite by wearing AR Lenses. At the same time, a globally assembled team of designers were able to review the construction process through a cloud-based digital twin of the construction site, being able to intuitively supervise the construction process from a distance and pass on knowledge and guidance to local crews efficiently. This enabled the global team of designers and makers to be able to work together simultaneously over distance during the design and construction process.”

In a celebration of human craftsmanship, the architects chose to use colourful rope inspired by the colours and history of the traditional Métis sash. The Métis are a multi-ancestral indigenous people whose native homeland is Canada. The colourful sash of the Métis people is a symbol of nationhood and pride in their cultural heritage.

The Augmented Grounds design leads visitors along a playful rope display journey that reflects the pride of Métis identity, allowing them to walk along the contours of the ropes, sit and lie upon the coiled masses as seating, or run up and down the mounds and across the pool.

“This garden is the Métissage of cultural pride and innovation. The Augmented Grounds garden represents the Sash through colourful ropes made of twisted fibres that are tightly laid on top of the terrain to create a landscape of contours that reflects the different depths of Métis history represented on the sash,” explained the architects.

“While the experience of the installation being highly analogue, the construction process of this topographic terrain contributes to a new innovative practice of garden design by introducing smart construction technology using augmented reality. As the geometry is generated based on a mathematical algorithm, the combination of traditional materiality and mathematical form surrounded by the beautiful forest of Reford Garden provides a unique experience for visitors to truly experience the product of collaboration between humans, computers and nature.”

Images © Martin Bond & JC Lemay & Marie Eve Brais via ArchDaily