International Design Award Honors VectorWorks User
Columbia, Maryland, October 12, 2007—Using Nemetschek North America’s landscape design software, VectorWorks Landmark, Jane Sarah Bihr-de Salis, a landscape architect from Kallern, Switzerland, was recently awarded first prize in the international competition best private plots 07 – Die besten Gärten 2007. The award honors achievements in the design of private outdoor space and gardens.
The “interplay of openness and enclosure” convinced the jury to award “Boundless Garden” (“Garten Lukoschus-Dinte”) with the first place award. They found Ms. Bihr-de-Salis’ project to be a simple, poetic garden, but definitely not commonplace.
A project for a vicar and her husband, the garden features clipped hornbeam hedges which provide spatial articulation to a garden which flows seamlessly into the surrounding fields. At the property’s west edge, the hedges are more densely planted to shield the garden from the neighboring residence. In spring and fall the meadow is accentuated by narcissus, peonies and autumn crocus. The lawn seems to be extending an invitation to stroll or relax between its hedges. A climbing rose covers the carport’s back wall. In front of the house seven box domes inhabit a gravel bed. The number of hornbeam shapes and box domes is rooted in religious symbolism. Theological concepts also played a role in the design of the tea house, a pavilion whose structure appears to be the hornbeam hedges surrounding it. In its interior a loudly painted blue ceiling with gold-plated stars--arranged in the client’s birth constellation--brings chapel vaulting to mind.
The floor surface, consisting of an arrangement of bone segments, makes reference to hell. There is mention in historical literature of the use of bone by the poor as flooring material during the Middle Ages, and as symbol of eternal life in ancient Greece. The bones used in the tea house were supplied by the cook at the local nursing home. He had cooperated in this endeavor the previous winter by repeatedly placing osso bucco on the meal plan.
Ms. Bihr-de Salis was awarded the first prize of 7,000 Euros. An exhibition of her project, as well as other recognized projects, is on display through November 5th at the Loisium Visitors’ Center in the picturesque wine city of Langenlois in the heart of the southern Kamptal valley in Austria.
In its second year, the best private plots juried competition considers design concept, artistic quality, use of plants and materials, linkage of indoors and outdoors, spatial definition and structuring, technical implementation, and ecological interrelationships. Emphasis is also placed on the garden’s potential to accommodate a variety of uses. The outdoor space or garden must clearly be a private habitat, and have been completed after January 1, 1997. Awards are in recognition of newly designed gardens or for redesign of existing gardens. The open competition featured entries from landscape architects, architects, designers, artists, florists, nurseries and landscaping firms, garden owners—as well as teams consisting of a combination thereof. This year’s jury included Christopher Bradley-Hole (England), Topher Delaney (USA), Eelco Hooftman--GROSS.MAX (Scotland), Gisela Steinlechner (Austria), and Cecile Daladier and Nicolas Saulier (France--winners of best private plot in 2006).
best private plots 07 – Die besten Gärten 2007 is international in scope and was initiated by Natur im Garten – Verein Lebensqualität – Land Niederösterreich (DI Thomas Uibel, Thomas Balluch) Representative Mag. Wolfgang Sobotka. The concept, idea and realization are the brainchild of the interdisciplinary Team private plots (Dr. Karin Standler, landscape architecture, Vienna – Linz; DI Robert Froschauer, architecture Vienna – Linz; and DI Andrea Heistinger, horticulture, Schiltern).
VectorWorks Landmark is a product of Nemetschek North America, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Nemetschek Group. A global leader in design technologies, Nemetschek North America has been developing CAD software for the AEC, entertainment, landscape design, and manufacturing fields since 1985. VectorWorks, its flagship product, is one of the world's best-selling cross-platform CAD applications. An all-in-one solution that's easier to learn and use and more cost-effective than most other CAD programs, VectorWorks is ideal for firms that don't have unlimited IT budgets. For more information, visit www.nemetschek.net