Finite-Infinite

The Finite/Infinite Garden is acollaboration between BAM and Peter Walker & Partners. It is defined by onedevice that creates two contrasting conditions. A simple circular parterregarden is bisected by a pathway lined with two walls, each covered with mirrorson both sides. Centered in the pathway is a line of Sycamores on a five-meterspacing. For the viewer inside the two walls the pathway and its trees aretransformed into an infinite landscape by the ‘barbershop’ effect. The line ofSycamores becomes an orchard that multiplies into infinity. The cobble pathbecomes a datum that extends endlessly into the deep space of themirrors. The exterior of the mirror pathpresents an opposing condition to the expansive infinity of the interior. Theparterres, half-circles in plan, are completed as tranquil and uninterruptedcircles in the mirror. A viewer rounding the parterres reaches a final gesture:two rows of slender Poplars create a secondary axis perpendicular to theSycamores. In the mirror walls a puzzling alley forms across the circles of theparterre. The treetops of the opposite parterre mysteriously complete theimages of the trunks in the mirror. The Finite/Infinite Garden recalls PeterWalker’s early landscape experimentations, aimed at finding minimalistexpression for the landscape. Finite/Infinite is at once more grand, moreglobal, and more cerebral. Walker workshopped with BAM in our Beijing studiousing mirrors and model trees to outline fundamentals of the design. BAMcarried the design forward through further model studies, detail mock-ups,construction drawings, and construction. Project name: Finite/Infinite -Beijing Garden Expo Deisgn firm: BAM + Peter Walker & Partners Location: Beijing Garden Expo,Beijing, China Construction: 2013 Site Area: 3500 m2 Client: Ministry of Housing andUrban-Rural Development