new spaces 10 EN

6 Thinking the Future I “Wir trafen uns in einem Garten ... wahrscheinlich unter einem Baum” (We met in a garden … probably under a tree) — the summer hit of the Berlin pop group 2raumwohnung is the perfect soundtrack for a walk with Enzo Enea. On Lake Zurich, where wealth and culture meet, he has realised one of his dreams. The man who turns simple plants into enchanting art is creating a park that abolishes the boundaries between art and nature. Far removed from all the things that usually pass for art in a garden setting, his piece of land celebrates a fusion of architecture, design and landscape. The Swiss “nature architect” stands satisfi ed in the lush, spacious garden landscape above Lake Zurich that he has been laying out and perfecting for several years. His park is home to many interesting trees, including some that are more than 130 years old. Essentially, it is a walk-in culmination of English landscape gardening of the 18th century and Isamo Noguchi’s land art from the 1930s. Although the park is not contrived in any way, it is precisely designed and em bodies a touch of zen that enables visitors to enjoy a moment of peace. Enea has a personal, if not tender, relationship to each tree. When referring to his 80 year old yew, for example, he sounds like an art critic speaking about a painting: “This yew has a dramatic character. It was ‘forced’ into a beautiful and desirable shape by humans. The yew submits to it’s destiny and continues to grow in this form. Nevertheless, it still exudes a cool elegance and a hint of danger. You almost want to believe that the twisted trunk hasn’t yet given up its struggle against this shaping process.” Enea, 47, is today’s most sought-after landscape architect. Together with the 145 employees who work at his company, he has realised well over 500 projects and designed gardens for private villas, pubic parks and green oases for the headquarters of corporations. Enea has worked not only on the gold coast of Lake Zurich, but also in England, France, Japan, Florida and Hawaii, acquiring inexhaustible knowledge about the vegetation in diff erent climate zones and the various cultural traditions associated with garden design. When you observe the garden philosopher in action you see a man who proceeds with slow steps along the path before him, enjoying the play of light in the leaves as he talks about the A collector, his museum and his works of art Landscape architect Enzo Enea has created a refuge on Lake Zurich in which his favourite trees, one of which is the Japanese apricot (right), can really put down roots in the truest sense of the word. nature of nature. In this setting, it is extremely diffi cult to believe that Enea often leads the stressful life of a top international manager. But the truth is that he is just as much at home in an airport lounge as in the shade of his trees. And he has come a long way. At the start of his career, Enea didn’t work with trees, gravel and shrubs, but rather with plastic, metal and wood. He studied industrial design before moving to London, UK, to learn the art of landscape architecture. It is this design background, the knowledge of the delicate relationship between form and function, that makes Enea unique in his fi eld and allows him to combine architecture, design and nature. After completing his education, he initially worked in Hawaii and Brazil, and it quickly became clear that a special talent had landed on fertile soil. He won the top prizes for his fl oral settings, and took gold and silver at the Giardina fairs in the Swiss cities Zurich and Basel. The absolute crowning achievement came in 1998: the gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, the equivalent of the Olympic Games of nature architecture, so to speak.

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