Reconnecting with nature
The Hidden Garden
The Hidden Garden: Nature, Culture and Art in Siena
The Hidden Garden, a green area adjacent to the medieval walls of Siena located in a 'border' zone between the inner order of urban space and the spontaneity of nature outside; an ecosystem that evolves over time, adapting to human presence and welcoming human experiences, in a relationship of continuous exchange.
Italy
Local
Siena, Toscany, Italy
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Yes
2024-09-21
No
No
No
As a representative of an organisation
The overall aim of the project is to revitalize a previously abandoned green area, adjacent to the medieval walls of Siena and located in a 'border' zone between the inner order of urban space and the spontaneity of nature outside. Responding to the lack of accessible and inspiring urban gardens in Siena and passage spaces between urban and rural landscape, the Hidden Garden is a place rich in meaning, capable of offering moments of solitude and personal reflection, but also connection through group activities and art happenings, as well as cultural stimulation through the proximity to the medieval walls and various art installations hosted over time. It refers to various groups of people, from the internal diverse community of Siena Art Institute that uses it on a daily basis and other groups that develop activities with it, to all the citizens that profit from an open-access space for reconnection with nature. The permaculture principles that were applied in the design process have a key role in both protecting and regenerating the natural ecosystem of the place by stimulating biodiversity, as well as in offering an experience of undomesticated nature near the urban center. The transdisciplinary approach of the garden’s creation successfully mediated different competences, worldviews and fields of knowledge, while its development is considered open and continuous, constantly being informed by community input and fresh art-initiated insights. This gives rise to a multi-dimensional garden that blends social inclusion, through design aspects that begin from deaf-blind experience, with cultural heritage, being an important site depicted in the city hall's historical fresco series, and contemporary art, as an exhibition space organically connected to the institute’s activities. All these aspects also foster an educational environment that offers informal learning stimuli on inclusivity, sustainability, and planning approaches for the city of Siena and not only.
Permaculture
Deaf-blind experience
Contemporary Art
Cultural Heritage
Community Engagement
The project aligns in various levels with the sustainability values of NEB. In terms of repurpose, many material resources that were used for the realization of the intervention have been the product of re-use processes, such as the physical realization of the path’s borders with pruning from the clearance phase, the use of old cut trunks as the physical gateway to the online multimedia library, and of old tuff bricks as base for the sitting area. Other materials that were used were also carefully selected to be natural, sustainable and durable, and the color paints and varnishes that were used to be non-toxic. Furthermore, the compartmentalization of larger interventions, such as the continuous handrail, were designed in a way that parts can be easily replaceable if needed, while the lighting system is based entirely in solar energy. Moreover, according to basic principles of organic regenerative agriculture, during the work activities a circular system that mimics the natural model was created and all of the prunings produced were selected and reused on site to serve multiple functions, for example as vegetation cover for the soil, and to delineate and mulch the path. At the same time, a whole range of biopreparations, produced on site from local materials, are also constantly used throughout the area to stimulate the degradation of the big amount of prunings produced, promoting soil regeneration processes. In such ways, the local ecosystem and its biodiversity are being enhanced while a zero-waste logic is being cultivated. Combined with that, other adopted attitudes during the development of the project that are characterized by respect and non-invasiveness towards nature, as for example the protection and preservation of the place’s morphology, the adaptation to the soil’s characteristics, and the temporary character of all interventions, could further support and stimulate a behavior change and a paradigm shift of a more sustainable reconnection with nature.
The project re-activates an abandoned space envisaging an atypical garden as a space of experience, art, and encounter where the senses are constantly stimulated, the cultural and environmental significance of the place is augmented, and meaningful personal or group activities take place. Environmental stimuli, such as the smells and sounds of the living ecosystem, are complemented by purpose-built multi-sensory elements, including a tactile path with specially made ceramic pieces, a relaxation area with aromatic plants adjacent to the seating area, and an outdoor multimedia library that transforms the garden into a diffuse reading area. At the same time, the proximity to the medieval walls of the city offer a unique auditory, visual, and tactile experience, while their historical significance is being enhanced and an alternative meaningful reconnection with the city’s heritage is proposed. The garden is used as a place that houses site-specific art and cultural events that reflect and engage with the local communities, offering shared moments of collective reflection and contemplation. Various other architectural decisions and details add aesthetic value to the project, such as the handcrafted poufs that represent the most playful aspect, along with bold color choices that combine accessibility and character, while the incorporation of local materials like clay and terracotta enrich the cultural value of the entire project. The combination of all the above propose a certain kind of aesthetic approach that is sustainable and creates a respectful dialogue between the natural environment and the human interventions of the past and the present. It brings forward a design approach for outdoor spaces that are not considered only for their classically perceived beauty or only as places of relaxation, but also as places of connection and interaction, of rich collective meaning-making through art, and of awareness of the local natural, cultural and social context.
The garden is conceived as an inclusive space that incorporates various design principles that assure accessibility and usability to many local communities and groups of people. On a first level, the access to the garden is free of charge, while free guided visits can be organized in various languages, to foster comprehension of the concepts behind this space’s design. The multicultural and diverse community of the institute, which inhabits the space on a daily basis, can always find moments of decompression and relaxed socialization. The residents of the neighboring retirement houses are also welcomed to the garden, both for events and for a stroll, while specific design interventions have been made to facilitate them inhabiting the space, such as the various sitting options and the guiding handrail that can offer stability and safety. The multicultural aspect is further highlighted through the inclusion of migrant communities in the design process, an example being the commission of custom-made poufs to a local-based migrant textile artist, which incorporated patterns from his cultural tradition into the garden’s design. Moreover, the most elaborate inclusion practice concerns deaf, blind and deaf-blind accessibility of the garden and was developed in collaboration with members of the communities, with whom the institute is in constant interaction. Some of the interventions concern color interventions across the path and at the sitting areas that make them more distinguishable by people with low vision, and a guiding handrail that offers a safer walking experience. Meanwhile, custom-made outdoor furniture in circular shapes and other moveable sitting options encourage gatherings and conversations also in sign language. Through all the above, and through the informal learning qualities of a designed environment, the project is promoting a new way of intergenerational, multicultural and inter-ability togetherness and connectivity.
The diverse internal community of Siena Art Institute, as one of the main groups of citizens benefiting in daily basis by the regenerated garden, played a key role in the initial phase of the project through collective discussions for the direction that the project should take, the design approach and the uses and activities that the place should be able to host, granting that these qualities would be relevant to their daily needs and wants. Regarding local citizens, in this phase, a communication campaign took place, which included a crowdfunding campaign that eventually made the realization of the project possible, while other residents that visit regularly and work on the institute’s community vegetable garden, which is adjacent to the garden project under discussion, where involved in further discussions throughout the whole process. Similarly, the interdisciplinary team that worked during the design and implementation phase, was not a team detached from the place, but one that constantly uses and relates to it, meaning that all interventions were though not only from the side of the “expert”, but also from that of the user and inhabitant of this place. Furthermore, various interactive consultation sessions took place, combined with guided tours of the work-in-progress garden, giving the opportunity to citizens, groups and communities, to express their opinion on the design process and affect it with their feedback in crucial moments. For example, a local organization working with people with mental and social challenges towards rehabilitation, and which regularly develops cultural projects with the institute, had a guided visit that was followed by a feedback session which informed the design process. Moreover, the continuous involvement and the co-development of the project with members of the deaf and deafblind community has offered to the project qualities that are born from their experience and directly correspond to their needs and wants.
The project idea stemmed from testified and observed local needs. The communities from the Porta Romana neighborhood, which lacked an outdoor space open to all without needing to be affiliated to a specific organisation or institution, were involved at all levels of the codesign and implementation process. Local people and businesses also donated to the crowdfunding campaign that funded the project and took part in the promotion and communication of the campaign.
Communities involved in the codesign process are: deaf and deaf-blind communities; associations of people with psychiatric issues (Riabilita); elderly retirement facilities (such as Ville di Porta Romana); University (Università degli Studi di Siena students); Schools (Istituto Caselli, I. I. S. Piccolomini); art and art history students and resident artists from the Siena Art Institute; blind people (UICI); recently immigrated people and refugees (Corte dei Miracoli Association). Local individuals from the Permaculture community were involved as volunteers. The Comune di Siena was involved for communication and dissemination, while Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena co-funded the project. Cultural and social organisations from the RESET and Community Hub networks were involved in the testing phase.
Regional/National
RAI (national media network) was involved in the communication, as they covered the creation of the Garden for “Linea Verde” TV program on sustainability. Art Bonus Toscana by the Region of Tuscany helped in the crowdfunding process by facilitating the gathering of donations.
European
The NEB partners were informed of the process through the network’s online meetings, leading to brainstorming sessions with other institutions working on similar projects. Volunteers involved through the European Solidarity Corps took part in the implementation and communication of the project. E+ youth mobility participants used the space as a training opportunity and took part in the feedback activities.
Communities involved in the codesign process are: deaf and deaf-blind communities; associations of people with psychiatric issues (Riabilita); elderly retirement facilities (such as Ville di Porta Romana); University (Università degli Studi di Siena students); Schools (Istituto Caselli, I. I. S. Piccolomini); art and art history students and resident artists from the Siena Art Institute; blind people (UICI); recently immigrated people and refugees (Corte dei Miracoli Association). Local individuals from the Permaculture community were involved as volunteers. The Comune di Siena was involved for communication and dissemination, while Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena co-funded the project. Cultural and social organisations from the RESET and Community Hub networks were involved in the testing phase.
Regional/National
RAI (national media network) was involved in the communication, as they covered the creation of the Garden for “Linea Verde” TV program on sustainability. Art Bonus Toscana by the Region of Tuscany helped in the crowdfunding process by facilitating the gathering of donations.
European
The NEB partners were informed of the process through the network’s online meetings, leading to brainstorming sessions with other institutions working on similar projects. Volunteers involved through the European Solidarity Corps took part in the implementation and communication of the project. E+ youth mobility participants used the space as a training opportunity and took part in the feedback activities.
The design and implementation process of the project was carried out by an interdisciplinary team in a collaborative way. Permaculture experts handled the first part of the projects which consisted of observation and study of the previously abandoned semi-forested area, which resulted in the design of a trail based on the morphology of the terrain, the condition of the existing vegetation and the characteristics of the soil, and which harmoniously follows the natural lines of the forest. Subsequently, team members with architectural expertise identified further areas alongside the pathway, which were shaped accordingly, to facilitate personal or group stay and activities, to house art installations and to promote the connection both with the medieval walls and the natural environment itself. A collaborative process among permacultural and architectural designers gave shape to the general design direction and continued throughout the more concentrated design and implementation phase, during which an intergenerational team of architects worked in detail on all the individual interventions. At the same time, accessible design principles were also central, as with the direct involvement of deaf-blind experts who co-developed the elements that emphasize Deaf inclusion and culture. The added value from this interdisciplinary collaboration was that the design solutions that were implemented derived from a very meaningful dialogical process where a fine balance had to be found between the different focus of each field of knowledge. This parallel process was handled by another small team with expertise on cultural management, architecture, social practice and art, in order for the general role that the garden would serve to be guaranteed. Meanwhile, the craft skills of the carpenters and blacksmiths that were involved in the construction of individual pieces were also taken into account, together with the more artistic approach of the ceramist that created the tactile path.
The project is characterized by innovative elements in various levels, from practical to more conceptual ones, compared to more mainstream urban or landscape design interventions. Firstly, the material resources had to comply with the restricted budget, strengthening re-use and no-waste tactics, thus organically connecting the project to sustainable approaches, as well as more diy approaches, which lead to the end result deriving from a much more intimate relationship between design and construction, which often tend to be strictly separated, negatively affecting the outcome. Moreover, permaculture design values have offered innovative elements in both practice and concept. The relationship between human and nature that is promoted through these values escapes the domestication logic that is often adopted, and instead respects, protects and regenerates it. This approach has not yet entered mainstream practice, thus examples like this where it is adopted offer instances of a more fluid and meaningful dialogue between human-made and natural environment. Furthermore, this is not a monothematic garden, it does not have one main type of possible use. Like most urban gardens, it can offer moments of relaxed re-connection with nature, but on top of that it is a place enhanced with much symbolic meaning, spanning from sustainability values, both social and environmental, to artistic approaches and cultural significance. For example, the proximity to the medieval walls connect past with present, not through the mainstream logic of clearance and monumental promotion, but through a more direct and intimate relation to the medieval materiality. Lastly, the project tries to deconstruct ableist views, through a design that begins from deaf, blind and deafblind experience and culture, not imposing any prefabricated solutions, as often happens, but thought co-designing with people that are part of this culture, highlighting their role as experts of their lived needs and wants.
The most central approach that was used in the project was participatory teamwork, in the sense that both proposals and decision-making were resulting from a dialogical process that different ideas were combining and creating something collective. Meanwhile, because the intervention site was, and still is, a non-domesticated place with intense vegetation and particular terrain morphology, a detailed mapping of the site was not available, and thus the whole design and implementation phase took place in direct contact with the site. In-site decision-making and problem-solving, often through the trial and error method, were central to this project. This approach was also in line with permaculture values of respecting nature, and individual particularities like roots and vegetation characteristics, as well as specific located terrain inclinations, all of which were taken into account and shaped the design decisions. This constant connection to the place was extended to a constant connection also with the community around it. All the people that were involved, to a bigger or smaller degree, contributed not only with the specific task they may have been in charge of but also with further informal or formal knowledge they had, and their other competences and sensibilities. At the same time, most of the individual design interventions were conceived with a conceptual extension, on top of their practical function, in order to create a space that can possibly offer a rich experience in multiple levels. Lastly, the passage that took place from multidisciplinary to interdisciplinary approach, and at times even beyond-disciplinary, gave rise to certain responses that could not have been achieved otherwise and which are the result of a fine balance between at times even contrasting priorities. The meeting between permaculture values, surpassing accessibility barriers, and design with more fine aesthetic was at times conflicting, but their synthesis generated original results.
Since the project is mainly a site-specific intervention, the replicable and transferrable elements relate more to the approach and the methodology that was implemented, but also include some individual design solutions. The results from the combination of permaculture values, accessibility elements and more elegant design approach can be viewed as examples of this valuable interdisciplinary and dialogical process of in-situ design and implementation. The constantly negotiable nature of the result is also a key element that relates to this process. Regarding more specific solutions, we can mention the circular arrangement of the sitting area, adapting to the terrain’s slope by creating multiple levels that can in turn accommodate people with different height, age or ability. The moveable sitting options, the poufs, are another element that incorporates adaptability, creativity and sustainability, and could potentially be replicated in any other space with similar characteristics and priorities. At the same time, the inventive inscription of QR codes in the environment, by using already cut trunks, which could also double as sitting options, offers a technique that can give an extra level of information and experience to a natural environment, without implementing more traditional labeling systems that would be more imposing to the landscape.
The main global challenge that this project addresses through a local solution is the disconnection from nature and the human-centered, but not wide and inclusive enough, relation with natural settings. The Hidden Garden is a place that at the same time offers a break from the intense city rhythms and stimuli, proposes a multidimensional re-connection with nature, and acts as a passage between the inner city and the natural environment outside the medieval walls. Through the implementation of permaculture techniques it gives an answer to soil degradation, especially related to natural spaces that are designed and used in sterilized ways. Meanwhile, the marginalization and exclusion of deaf and deaf-blind people from decision-making and design processes is also addressed in this project, actively including them throughout the process and highlighting their expertise when it comes to accessibility. At the same time, when these aspects connect, further unpredictable results and insights can rise. An example is the realization that very often “nature experiences” that are rendered as “accessible” tend to be over-protecting, predictable and over-sterilized. Instead, during the process it was emphasized that, if the correct interventions are made, blind people and people with low vision could equally take advantage of more undomesticated environments, in regards to vegetation and terrain morphology, enjoying a much more meaningful and fulfilling experience. A last global challenge that is addressed through this project is the sustainability of the arts and of cultural activities in general. While artistic and cultural activities tend to employ many non-sustainable modes of practice, through the garden as a place for artistic intervention and other cultural events, both their possible connection with nature and the implementation of more environmentally friendly methods are highlighted, such as the use of natural or recycled materials, and re-use or no-waste approaches.
Outputs:
- The regenerated space itself, as a multidimensional garden open to all citizens and communities of the city;
- The custom-designed interventions and pieces of urban furniture (benches, handrails, poufs, tactile sculptures and artworks) are also part of the material outputs of the project, characterized by adaptability, temporality and modular design;
- The multimedia transdisciplinary digital library that has been curated constitutes a usable outcome for further use and a resource for learning;
- The results of the feedback sessions that took place during the development phase, and keep taking place during public events and activities.
Results:
80 people involved in the codesign and implementation of the project from 9 communities
23 professionals from various fields involved in the codesign team
35 involved in the crowdfunding campaign
700 people benefited from taking part in garden activities
50 people took part in feedback/piloting sessions
Impact
The garden functions as a paradigm of sustainable and inclusive regeneration of a previously abandoned and inaccessible space, which offers landscape and urban design strategies and techniques that are replicable and inspiring. The space of the garden fosters sensibilization to environmental issues, and offers to the citizens and visitors of Siena a more meaningful connection to nature, through a path that connects the urban center and the university campus to one of the peri-urban valleys of Siena. The accessibility that characterizes this path further widens the opportunities of groups and communities that were previously marginalized to enjoy an environment as less domesticated and sterilized as possible, and provides moments of sensibilization also regarding barriers that they usually face in their daily activities. On top of that, the cultural offer of the neighborhood is further increased, with this new green space giving opportunities for more multifaceted cultural activities and events.
- The regenerated space itself, as a multidimensional garden open to all citizens and communities of the city;
- The custom-designed interventions and pieces of urban furniture (benches, handrails, poufs, tactile sculptures and artworks) are also part of the material outputs of the project, characterized by adaptability, temporality and modular design;
- The multimedia transdisciplinary digital library that has been curated constitutes a usable outcome for further use and a resource for learning;
- The results of the feedback sessions that took place during the development phase, and keep taking place during public events and activities.
Results:
80 people involved in the codesign and implementation of the project from 9 communities
23 professionals from various fields involved in the codesign team
35 involved in the crowdfunding campaign
700 people benefited from taking part in garden activities
50 people took part in feedback/piloting sessions
Impact
The garden functions as a paradigm of sustainable and inclusive regeneration of a previously abandoned and inaccessible space, which offers landscape and urban design strategies and techniques that are replicable and inspiring. The space of the garden fosters sensibilization to environmental issues, and offers to the citizens and visitors of Siena a more meaningful connection to nature, through a path that connects the urban center and the university campus to one of the peri-urban valleys of Siena. The accessibility that characterizes this path further widens the opportunities of groups and communities that were previously marginalized to enjoy an environment as less domesticated and sterilized as possible, and provides moments of sensibilization also regarding barriers that they usually face in their daily activities. On top of that, the cultural offer of the neighborhood is further increased, with this new green space giving opportunities for more multifaceted cultural activities and events.
