Captured Landscape Architecture and the Enclosed Garden

The enclosed garden, or hortus conclusus, is a place where architecture and landscape come together. It has a long and varied history, ranging from the early paradise garden and cloister, the botanic garden and giardini segreto, the kitchen garden and as a stage for social display. The enclosed garden has continued to develop into its many modern forms: the city retreat, the redemptive garden, the deconstructed building. As awareness of climate change becomes increasingly important, the enclosed garden, which can mediate so effectively between interior and exterior, provides opportunities for sustainable design and closer contact with the natural landscape. By its nature it is ambiguous. Is it an outdoor room, or captured landscape; is it architecture or garden?