Theme Garden of EXPO Shanghai 2010

Modern gardens act to replenish the modern city, providing a contrast to the fast rhythm of urban life and an opportunity to return to an Eden of purity and peacefulness. In contrast to China's classical gardens, several thousands of years old, the design lay-out of the modern garden has moved from a two-dimensional plane-surface to a three-dimensional space. The materials used have moved from simple natural substances to exploit the properties of industrial materials. Simultaneously, the modern garden functions to unify the various ambiences of an exhibition space to be enjoyed by the public, a restful, classical, private garden and a living space. We have taken the 'Master of the Nets' garden plan as a basic research model and particularly, the use of 'Scholar’s Stone', as the most basic point of departure in the construction of this classical garden. There are also Buddhist heavenly grottoes, permeated by an evasive peaceful and gentle quality and a fluctuating sense of reality which will encourage a deeper understanding of the landscape. The structure borrows from the traditional patterning of sunflower. Between the stable structure and abstract concept can be found continuity and a point of anchorage. Within the three-dimensional space, the pattern's unfixed topology alters, tallying with the randomly altering nature of modern society. The interweaving and altering scenery creates a graceful and insightful sense of reality and produces rich, stratified lights and shadows. In the light of the classical form of the distribution of stones and water in this visitor park, establishing a tourist path and organisational presence will give people a panoramic space experience, information and connect their personal experience with sensations experienced within the garden.