花园不小
No Garden Is Too Small
This commission was no ordinary.
A little courtyard in a narrow plot is squeezed between buildings and peculiar sheds. The narrow plot itself has one end in a beautiful historical square and the second pointing towards a small river.
It immediately caught our attention. Lots of questions. It’s so tiny! It’s not even entirely theirs! Is it even cost effective? The task became almost tantalizing.
There is a shop, storage, artist‘s atelier, and a house of the owners. The yard is a connection of several spaces – the house passage, living rooms on the ground floor, a narrow strip of garden and the adjacent yard. In various ways everybody shares the space together.
我们想要一个简单但强大且有弹性的概念。它不是关于拥有空间，而是借用它一段时间。在添加新的层之前，我们必须理解微妙的关系网。与表面和材料的紧密接触要求良好的老化细节。我们还需要非常注意的不仅是设计什么，还有我们没有设计的东西。
We wanted a simple yet strong and resilient concept. It was not about owning the space, but borrowing it for a time. We had to understand the delicate webbing of relations before adding a new layer. Close contact with surfaces and materials called for excellent and well aging details. We also needed to take great care not only what to design, but what we don’t design.
Although the yard has several entrances and is located in the middle of happenings, it is a quiet place. As a center of the shell – although cramped, it has a safe and relaxing vibe. An opening to the sky that urges one to stop and breathe in the atmosphere of peace.
在这里，你可以在舒适的沙发上休息，喝杯咖啡，看书，或者只是坐在那里，眼睛欣赏着五颜六色的花朵，耳朵听着小喷泉的潺潺声平静下来。这个室外房间的地板是由多种形式的石砖、花岗岩立方体和带有天然赭石纹理的石板构成的网格。多年生植物低矮的枕头上掉落的叶子和花瓣从光学上软化了石地毯冰冷的表面。周围的立面很高，不需要额外的遮荫，但庭院由一棵现有的木兰树精心装饰。
Here you can rest on a comfortable sofa, have a coffee, read or just sit with an eye pleased to a colorful flower composition and an ear calmed by the bubbling sounds of a small fountain. The floor of this outdoor room is a grid of several formats of stone tiles, granite cubes and slabs with natural ocher grain. The cold surface of the stone carpet is optically softened by leaves and petals that fall from the low pillows of perennials. The surrounding facades are high and no extra shading is needed, but the courtyard is delicately crowned by an existing magnolia tree.
令人惊讶的是，小中庭的主要元素不是花园家具或绿色植物，而是金属门。庭院的整面墙都是生锈的金属屏风，有一个入口（需要开车进去！），木兰花枝形状的穿孔以图形方式印在木兰花枝上。这就像一张照相底片，捕捉到一个不复存在的瞬间。它为院子创造了一个背景，起到了一个半渗透的屏障的作用，可以屏蔽仓库和商店的嗡嗡声。它允许人们通过——孩子们跑着去上学，工人们抽着烟休息，或者经常来访的人来打招呼。
Surprisingly, the main element of the small atrium is not the garden furniture or greenery, but the metal gate. The whole wall of the courtyard is formed as a rusty sheet metal screen with an entrance (need to drive in!), into which a perforation in the shape of a flowering branch of the magnolia was graphically imprinted. It’s like a photographic plate getting patina, capturing a moment which does not exist anymore. It creates a backdrop for the yard and functions as a semi permeable shielding from the buzz of the storage and shops. It allows people to pass through – children running to school, workers catching a smoke break, or regular visitors dropping by to say hello.
Newcomers can see the atrium through the holes in the gate and can decide whether and how they enter the space – with a quiet shh or bottle of prosecco ready to bang!
The rusty element of the steel wall, sculpturally refined by a natural motif, is complemented by a water element, a corten bowl in a shady flower bed under the old tree, and a few boxes of flower-pots of the same material in the back of the seating.
金属元素，即使有所有的锈迹，也浸没在厚荚草叶、箱根草和女士斗篷中，大门被弗吉尼亚攀援植物慢慢地爬上。一年中，绣球花和牡丹花在花坛上闪闪发光。大蒜、金银花、蛹、海葵和扁形虫的小花保证了全年都有东西可以享受。即使在冬天，金属的颜色也会在这里发光，并用意料之外的鲜红为中庭着色。
The metal elements, even with all the rust, are immersed in the leaves of pachysandra, Hakone grass and the Lady’s mantle, the gate is slowly climbed by the Virginia creeper. Hydrangea and Peony flowers shine in the flowerbeds during the year. Tiny flowers of garlic, honeysuckle, pupae, anemone and flatworm guarantee that there is something to enjoy all year round. Even during the winter, the color of the metal glows here and colors the atrium with an unexpected vibrant red.
如果花园能够令人尊敬地容纳各种功能并提供良好的心情，那么它就不会显得奇怪或太小。它可能很小，但我们不能低估它的社会重要性和空间联系。业主们理解这个小庭院所产生的影响，他们非常愿意并信任这种简单但富有创意的方式，这将使空间保持活力和社区感觉。与他们这样有头脑的人合作真是太好了。
No garden is odd or too small if it is able to respectfully accomodate functions and provide a good mood. It may be small, but we can not underestimate its social importance and spatial interconnections. The owners understood the impact this little courtyard had and needed to be and they had great willingness and trust in the simplistic yet creative approach that would allow the space to keep the vibrant and community feel. It was great to cooperate with such minded people as them.
Although it is a small project in a tiny garden, we are always looking forward to visiting it again. Because just as there are no small tasks, there is no small joy!
Project location: Litomyšl, Czech Republic
Design year: 2017
Year Built: 2018
