Garden of the XXI Century El Papiol

ETH Zürich, Chair of Being Alive, 2025

The garden of the XXI century begins with an understanding of climate and geology— their dynamics, constraints and gifts—as the foundation for learning from the landscape’s primary matter. By working with existing flows and energies, the garden engages its wider context. Simple acts of management foster collaboration among plants, animals, soil, water, climate, geology and humans, unfolding over time. Always unfinished, its form and performance emerge from these relationships. This studio reimagined the Alicia Quarry as a potential garden of the XXI century—implementing 8 million cubic meters of rubble deposits over 20 years. Rather than hiding its extractive past, it made visible the logics, disturbances, and conditions that have shaped it. Through research and close observation, students engaged with the site’s operations, material realities, and ecological potentials, translating these insights into spatial and temporal systems through rule-based management practices and topographic strategies.

MSc Landscape Architecture Design Studio

Teaching Partners: Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard, Cara Turett, Montserrat Bonvehi Rosich.