Add To Collection
Add to Collection
rifting lands seeding transformation - Gondwana Circle Competition
rifting lands seeding transformation - Gondwana Circle Competition
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
rifting lands seeding transformation - Gondwana Circle Competition
“With such wisdom has nature ordered things in
the economy of this world, that the destruction of one continent is not brought
about without the renovation of the earth in the production of another. “
James Hutton
Theory of the Earth, with
Proofs and Illustrations, Vol. 1
(1795), 183.
The concept of geologic time evades our everyday
perception. It is far too vast a scale
for mere humans to be familiar with. Gondwana Circle
offers the opportunity for visitors to the San Francisco Arboretum to intimately
interact with the intangible scale of geologic time. This design for Gondwana Circle is formed by stacking layers
of time – each layer representing one of the four geologic eras key to the
formation and breaking up of Gondwana, The Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary.
As one moves east to west through the circle, the vertical structure
of the plant beds builds up, revealing the evolutionary history of the plants
present today in the southern hemisphere. Below one’s feet lies the most ancient
layer of stone, representing the Jurassic Period, subtly cracked to show
Gondwana’s early surrender to the forces pulling it apart. The narrow crevices house the earliest
vegetation on earth, mosses, lycopods, and horsetails, surrounding the Rift
Valley fountain pool. The second strata, representing the Cretaceous
Period, is structured into plant beds filled with tree ferns and cycads,
non-flowering plants with fossils found on all of Gondwana’s continents. The third vertical strata, the Tertiary Period,
demonstrates the proliferation of flowering plants and their migration to the
still neighboring continents – specifically highlighting the Proteaceae family. The final strata reveals the diversification
of plant species that occurred via convergent evolution following the break-up
of the continents - specifically using various cacti species that are endemic
to different southern continents yet have similar forms. The one tree planted in the garden circle,
the monkey puzzle tree, is an outlier of this system, a primitive plant growing
from the upper-level plant bed. This high
vertical position allows the tree to be framed by the backdrop of any of the
surrounding southern hemisphere gardens. From any vantage point around Gondwana Circle, the
tree sits within a backdrop of future versions of itself - transformed through
time and space, affording the visitor the opportunity to see both ancient and
present in one view.
Throughout the garden, the horizontal strata of time is
interrupted with tilted planes that result from the forces acting upon the
continental plates – spreading them, colliding them, sliding them, generating
new environments that life must adapt to. These forces structure the layers of
time into benches, plant beds, a fountain, and an educational corridor.
The entrances into Gondwana
Circle are purposely misaligned from the various
connecting path that enter the circle.
This shifted approach requires a change in trajectory so that the
visitor is physically experiencing a walk along a jagged line, similar to the
fault lines of the earth’s plates. This shifting also allows the edge
conditions of Gondwana circle to confront the visitor head on, heightening the
experiential qualities of the edge of the circle. It is at these points that additional educational
signage may be added – introducing the visitors to the tactile journey through
time that site before them.
the economy of this world, that the destruction of one continent is not brought
about without the renovation of the earth in the production of another. “
James Hutton
Theory of the Earth, with
Proofs and Illustrations, Vol. 1
(1795), 183.
The concept of geologic time evades our everyday
perception. It is far too vast a scale
for mere humans to be familiar with. Gondwana Circle
offers the opportunity for visitors to the San Francisco Arboretum to intimately
interact with the intangible scale of geologic time. This design for Gondwana Circle is formed by stacking layers
of time – each layer representing one of the four geologic eras key to the
formation and breaking up of Gondwana, The Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary.
As one moves east to west through the circle, the vertical structure
of the plant beds builds up, revealing the evolutionary history of the plants
present today in the southern hemisphere. Below one’s feet lies the most ancient
layer of stone, representing the Jurassic Period, subtly cracked to show
Gondwana’s early surrender to the forces pulling it apart. The narrow crevices house the earliest
vegetation on earth, mosses, lycopods, and horsetails, surrounding the Rift
Valley fountain pool. The second strata, representing the Cretaceous
Period, is structured into plant beds filled with tree ferns and cycads,
non-flowering plants with fossils found on all of Gondwana’s continents. The third vertical strata, the Tertiary Period,
demonstrates the proliferation of flowering plants and their migration to the
still neighboring continents – specifically highlighting the Proteaceae family. The final strata reveals the diversification
of plant species that occurred via convergent evolution following the break-up
of the continents - specifically using various cacti species that are endemic
to different southern continents yet have similar forms. The one tree planted in the garden circle,
the monkey puzzle tree, is an outlier of this system, a primitive plant growing
from the upper-level plant bed. This high
vertical position allows the tree to be framed by the backdrop of any of the
surrounding southern hemisphere gardens. From any vantage point around Gondwana Circle, the
tree sits within a backdrop of future versions of itself - transformed through
time and space, affording the visitor the opportunity to see both ancient and
present in one view.
Throughout the garden, the horizontal strata of time is
interrupted with tilted planes that result from the forces acting upon the
continental plates – spreading them, colliding them, sliding them, generating
new environments that life must adapt to. These forces structure the layers of
time into benches, plant beds, a fountain, and an educational corridor.
The entrances into Gondwana
Circle are purposely misaligned from the various
connecting path that enter the circle.
This shifted approach requires a change in trajectory so that the
visitor is physically experiencing a walk along a jagged line, similar to the
fault lines of the earth’s plates. This shifting also allows the edge
conditions of Gondwana circle to confront the visitor head on, heightening the
experiential qualities of the edge of the circle. It is at these points that additional educational
signage may be added – introducing the visitors to the tactile journey through
time that site before them.
Product Spec Sheet
Were your products used?
Join as a manufacturer to add your products.