The garden is indeed a museum for all kinds of tropical plants in Rio. I am so fancinated by the garden, all the individual plants and the way the designer use it to organize space. Every trunk of the trees are so unique. They are all like telling a story of the garden. Seeing all the movements of different human beings and other species everyday, they are always there. I am also very inserted to see the contrast between the older plants and the new plants. In this garden, you can see almost a tree life cycle at one time- they changed a lot.
It is very impressing that he designer used different trees to create the boulevard that help people to locate their location and direction. And use elements like a fountain to guide people’s view.
The lily in the lake area all match with its context, which decorate the flat open water surface.There is a Japanese garden inside, which reminds me the planting material it used in the other part ps of the garden- bamboo. It is interesting because the designer provided a different way of using the bamboo. We usually plant them in a linear way, but here bamboo are in branches. Created a lower canopy for the visitors. That might be because all the palm trees are growing much higher, which lose the canopy ceiling for people. But the bamboo are now functioning like this.
It inspired me that sometime, the same planting material can be used in different ways if designer can design with their features.
I thought the botanical gardens were astounding to witness in person. I was extremely impressed by the sheer size of the some of the plants; The imperial palms to be exact. I have seen many palm trees and even been to Los Angeles where they line some of the streets with palms and I am still under the impression that these palms at the botanical gardens were by in far the best example of a palm I had seen. I agree that it was very interesting to see all the different ages of the plants. I thought your comparison of the chronology of plants to the life cycle of a tree was just. Walking through the garden, you could see the same plant at diifferent stages of it life and get a feel for how it would look in the future. I also thought the design of the plants was amazing which you alluded to with the bamboo. I think the canopies that the bamboo created was a great design move because it allowed you to experience a different feeling in the park. Walking down the imperial palm axis made you feel tiny in comparison , however, once you reached the bamboo canopies a feeling of compressiveness overwhelmed my body and I felt almost consumed by nature. All in all, I also felt inspired by the botanical gardens and the way in which the designers curated views and the organization of the plants.
Lulu,
Your sketches are amazing! I honestly got really inspired looking at your sketchbook at Porcao that it made me focus on my sketches even more (as well as building off of your ideas :)) Not having any architectural/landscaping background or drawing background period, coming into the trip I was worried that I wouldn’t produce the results I wanted. But seeing your work from the simple sketches all the way to the detailed ones, again, really inspired me to give my best effort. And as I am flipping through my own sketchbook (really missing Rio and wishing I was still there) I am truly proud of the work I have completed over the past week. With you probably not even knowing that, thank you!
In regards to the Botanical Gardens themselves, how fascinating they were! I, summarized in a post earlier, too visited the Japanese Garden. I found it to be so peaceful and so realizing that I spent some significant time there. Typical of the gardens was the water piece as well as the rocks. I unfortunately did not notice the bamboo too much. I did, however, take some time to notice the bridge and entrance towers. Love your sketches again!
Adam,
I am very glad that my sketch could help you a little bit. It is only a nine day trip and I can see you have made such a great progress in your sketches! It is really amazing! Sometime I feel like it will help you remember the details of a city better by sketching than using a camera, because you will “flip through the sketchbook” but you might not look back to your photos that often. I think if you keep practicing it will become a precise treasure when you do your portfolio. It is interesting to hear you talking about the Japanese garden because I unfortunately did not have enough time for that part. I agree with you that the Japanese garden is a unique feature in the botanical garden (almost a little bit weird for me to see an Asian style garden in historical South American Botanical Garden). I did a lot of researches about Japanese garden. I think Japanese garden usually will create a peaceful atmosphere, allowing people to absorb themselves inside the garden and almost forget the time like you did. We can definitely talk a lot more about our experience and sketches since we are in the same group for the beach research!