Assembled Landscapes               

Part of Spaces Buildings Make, a research project at MDX University 2005/8 funded by AHRC

An artificial landscape created and maintained by an in-house gardener creates a buffer between the university and the outside world. This perimeter is where nothing seems to occur, a space of pragmatic greenery that is familiar yet alien. The natural environment or a construct, a cordoned-off corridor around the university whose flora is the construct of Landscape Enterprise Ltd., who in 1978 designed the grounds around which Cat Hill, sits. The restrictive nature of the outside community only allowed planning to grant one-floor structures with green roofs on this site. Does this mean that it fills a void and consoles all those who believe that greenery is more natural and thus more human than asphalt and concrete?