Cascarilla Garden / ARCHITEKTEN

Trees are dazzling creatures. Emerging from tiny seeds, some species can surpass the height of a human being in a single growing season, while others take decades to develop into a fully grown canopy. The Cascarilla Garden explores the spatial qualities of this ephemeral transformation, where the system's phenology becomes legible and performative. This project extends our understanding beyond the visual stimulation of flower sequences and fall colors into intentional and ecologically rich spatial relationships that evolve and transform through time. In countries like Ecuador, where there is almost no landscape design research, ventures like this help landscape architects understand the phenological potential behind design processes. The Cascarilla Garden is located in the Andean valley of Tumbaco, Ecuador with an altitude of 2350 meters above sea level. Despite its high elevation, no seasons are present to drastically transform the landscape into winter or summer given Tumbaco’s geographic location just barely 10 minutes and 51 seconds below the equator line.