North Design Office participated in the “Experimenting Landscape” symposium organized by Les Jardins de Métis in collaboration with the Goethe-Institute, on Saturday June 25, 2011. The symposium was developed and directed by Emmanuelle Vieira, Artistic director of the Festival, and the moderators included Mechtild Manus, Emmanuelle Vieira, and Alexander Reford.

The International Garden Festival allows designers from all around the world to test new ways of thinking about gardens. What they experiment in Métis is used after, to nourish projects, from small to large scale, and change the way we look at landscapes in general. Starting with their projects at the Festival and following on to urban projects, the symposium asked the following questions: what is being tested in Métis? Which new ideas came up that could nourish actual or future projects? How can these experimental ideas inform some of the best-practices to respond in original ways to the challenges confronting landscape architects, architects, and urban planners today?  

Most landscape architects are educated, work and live in a unique city. The Symposium discussion was organized around four cities and three geographical regions: Berlin, in Europe; New York in the United-State; Toronto and Montreal, in Canada, with the purpose to establish a link between two complementary practices: one experimental, in a wildlife laboratory in Métis, and the other in the urban and defined context of the four cities.  

The symposium featured the work of the listed renowned landscape architecture firms that have participated in the Festival, who also create remarkable projects in their respective cities:
Martin Rein-Cano, director of Topotek 1 (Berlin, Germany)
Thilo Folkerts, director of 100landschaftsarchitektur (Berlin, Germany)
Ken Smith, founder of Ken Smith Workshop (New York City, USA)
Diana Balmori, founder of Balmori Associates (New York City, USA)
Marc Hallé, of Claude Cormier Architectes paysagistes (Montréal, Canada)
Alissa North, co-founder of North Design Office (Toronto, Canada)
Matthieu Casavant, co-founder of NIPpaysage (Montreal, Canada)

For more information, see: International Garden Festival