Finalist for garden as part of festival to celebrate Quebec’s 400 year anniversary.

In Scotland, the ‘drying green’ is part of the traditional domestic landscape as utility space, space for social interaction, space between built form and play space. These spaces have traditionally been and still are play places, spaces for interaction between neighbours and have their own defined character and structure.

As part of the Quebec Espace 400e festival, we considered what would happen if the traditional drying green were transposed into the festival site. The elements become exaggerated, creating the ‘drying green forest’.

The poles become tree trunks and the colourful washing lines transform into the forest canopy. These and the surface treatments create spaces through clearings, openings and barriers. The gravel surface does not remain static, but shifts with the flow of people in the space. As part of the celebrations, the garden would be part of an event where visitors are invited to contribute their own strings/lines to add to the project.