Third Landscape

ISBN 978-952-60-4517-7 (pdf) © Authors (see below), and Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture Department of Art 2012 E-book cover illustration and design: Stefan Sonvilla-Weiss Interior design and layout: Owen Kelly Conference front of house: Jennifer Ramirez Saldarriaga Conference streaming and technical co-ordination: Jari Manninen Conference catering: Milla Richt at Soupster Aalto University School of Art and Design P.O. Box 31000 FI-00076 AALTO FINLAND arts.aalto.fi The essays and presentations collected here are all licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, except where explicitly stated.

Se propone una “lectura” sobre aquellos lugares inciertos, que permita entender algunos aspectos de la realidad paisajística de nuestro tiempo a través de la reflexión: ¿Y si los mirásemos de otro modo?, ¿No serían ellos las páginas en blanco que necesitamos?, ¿No es acaso en el vacío donde puede aparecer la realidad del jardín como llenado del no-lugar, susceptible de albergar un espíritu nuevo? Tales espacios son registrados en la obra del jardinero G. Clément, Manifiesto del Tercer Paisaje y Le jardin en mouvement. De la vallée au jardin planétaire, cuando asume la condición de contemplarlos y redibujarlos bajo su mirada paisajística. Con el fin de completar la revisión sobre el paisaje incierto se propone un acercamiento al declive y la incertidumbre del paisaje a través de la experiencia del arquitecto Peter Latz en su Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, un paisaje fascinante conformado por los restos de un territorio industrial desolado, no obstante, con una gran capacidad de evocación en el que las posibilidades de recuperación del territorio son concebidas desde el jardín, desde el crecimiento espontáneo y salvaje de la vegetación, que rechaza la imitación o reproducción figurativa del paisaje natural, revelando la influencia de este caso de estudio sobre el Tercer paisaje.


We propose to examine uncertain places and landscapes in a way that allows for the understanding of the main characteristics present in nowadays territorial realities.  What if we were to look at these unattended landscapes otherwise? Would not they become the blank pages we are in need of? Is it not true that only in the void can the garden reality be, as a result of filling one “non-site”, capable of hosting a whole new spirit? The work of the French gardener G. Clément, The Third Landscape and Le jardin en movement. De la vallée au jardin planétaire, recognizes these spaces and pursues the task to contemplate and redraw them under its own landscape regard. In order to review uncertain landscapes we will approach decline and uncertainty in the work of the architect Peter Latz. Although it has already been broadly studied, due to his challenge and dialogue towards landscape, the investigation will take on the experience of Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, a fascinating landscape shaped by the fragments and leftovers of a desolate industrial territory which, nonetheless, possesses a great evoking capacity. Territory recovery possibilities are conceived from the garden perspective, from the spontaneous and wild vegetation growing that rejects being an imitation or figurative replica of the natural landscape, outlining the influence performed by this project on the subsequent Third Landscape theories.

“A Third Augmented Landscape” is a performative presentation and scientific paper
discussing the outcomes of a research project carried out by FakePress Publishing and
Università di Roma “La Sapienza”: the creation of an open source augmented reality (AR)
system for leaves. This AR system, called LEAF++, is based on a combined series of computer vision techniques that allow  smartphones and personal computers equipped with
a webcam to recognize leaves and other parts of plants and to show educational content
and interactive experiences. This possibility is used in the critical interpretation of Gilles
Clément’s definition of the “Third Landscape”: the sum of spaces in which human being
gave up to nature in the evolution of the landscape [1-2]. LEAF++ is used as a new eye
on urban spaces which is able to identify the Third Landscape and turn it into a place for
information, expression and interaction.