LUFO Park. Garden in Process

Collaborating as the atelier le balto, landscape designers Marc Pouzol, Véronique Faucheur, and Marc Vatinel develop garden projects, particularly for cultural institutions. Their specialty is a process-oriented approach that most corresponds to the cyclical growth found in nature. Existing structures are considered, as well as the developing use of the space and the growth of the plant life, which is not always predictable.
From 2011 to 2014, they worked in week-long interventions to gradually transform the park at the Ludwig Forum through horticultural efforts. Here, there are remaining spaces, visual axes, and visual connections from the previously overgrown and neglected park; these elements were partly restored, and partly redefined and reconstructed. The garden artists have begun to accentuate the plant life, to uncover the plant population that had been overgrown with ivy, and to return the beech, hazelnut, lilac, oak, and yew to their characteristic forms. The vegetation was pruned down to linear layered surfaces that function as a biotope for birds and small animals, while also serving as a guidance system for visitors. This resulted in light-filled transparent spaces and visual axes within the park.
1st Garden Intervention — June 2011: Two new platforms were created — one in the shady grove and one in the sunlight of the open field. The new podiums were purposefully fitted into the existing vegetation. They look as if they are hovering above the ground and, for example, accenting a ground depression or visually leveling an area that slopes; they frame individual tree trunks or are fixed between two trees. In this way, they echo the nature, so that the respective location is perceived in its individuality in a completely new way. The new platforms are meeting places, rest areas, and stages all in one.
2nd Garden Intervention — November 2011: In addition to the deliberately structured autumn pruning of the vegetation, two park cells were created. “Petite Nature No 1” brings together a densely packed variety of fruit trees and raspberry bushes. This “tree island” stands across from “Petite Nature No 2” at the edge of the woods, which is full of shade-giving plants. After each step in the process, atelier le balto makes drawings of the development, discusses the conception, reviews the plans, and makes adjustments as necessary.
3rd Garden Intervention — April 2012: Two new “park cells” were realized in the Ludwig Forum courtyard. As with the previous park cells and platforms, these are also intended as plant islands and places of activity. The border is made of wood and serves as a place to sit, inviting people to stop there. The new park cells in the courtyard expand the concept that was developed for the park and draw curiosity and attention to the garden project.
4th Garden Intervention — November 2012: A previous work by artist Nils-Udo was restaged. It is an artificial — now completely overgrown — hill on the western edge of the park. Palm trees were planted on it and a slide will be constructed there in the long term.
Additional information: www.ludwigforum.de/gartenaktion/aktion_2011_04.html

Further reading: Atelier Le Balto: Les pieds sur terre, ed. Brigitte Franzen. Publisher: Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne 2010