Construction underway for Quebec’s 19th Reford Gardens Festival

The International Garden Festival is beginning work on the construction of the new gardens for its 19th edition to be presented from June 23 to October 7, 2018. The Festival continues its exploration of play with Playsages II—Go Outside and Play! and has chosen seven projects that will offer imaginative spaces where families will congregate and play together this summer. The new gardens selected by the jury for the 2018 edition are:

aMAIZEing by Marta Milà Pascual, architect & landscape architect and Marc Torrellas Arnedo, architect—Barcelona, SpainaMAIZEing Photo credit: International Garden Festival, Jardins de Métis, Reford Gardens

L’origine de la colonne by Josep Congost and Louis Sicard, architects and artists—Valencia, SpainL'origine de la colonne, Reford Gardens

La ligne de 100 ans by hatem+d [Étienne Bernier, architect, Marianne Charbonneau, architect, Mélanie Dereymez, intern in architecture, Théo Jarrand, intern in architecture and Steeven Bérubé, 3D artist] — Québec (Québec) CanadaReford Gardens, International Garden Festival, Jardins des Metis

Le rocher très percé by Humà Design [Stéphanie Cardinal, designer, Olivier Laplante-Goulet multidisciplinary designer and Lorelei L’Affeter, artiste] and Vincent Lemay, landscape architect — Montréal (Québec) CanadaLe rocher très percé, Reford Gardens

Les hélicoptères by Carson Isenor, landscape designer and Anna Thomas, MLA candidate — Vancouver (British Columbia) CanadaReford Gardens

Round-A-Bout by ISO [Nuala O’Donnell, intern architect, Maxwell Schnutgen, intern architect and Etienne Issa, architectural designer] — Vancouver (British Columbia) CanadaReford

Assemble by Katie Strang, landscape designer, Christine Dewancker, artist and carpenter and Craig Van Ravens, architectural designer—Toronto (Ontario) Canada received a special mention from the jury and will offer a playsage for visitors of all ages—some assembly required!Assemble

These new installations will join the six playsages created for 2017 edition of the Festival that delighted nearly 10,000 children who came with their families, day camps and school groups and 13 other gardens returning for exhibition again this year. The 2018 Festival is also presenting installations on the rooftop of the Musée de la civilisation in Quebec City and on the place De La Dauversière in Old Montréal.

The jury was composed of Jonathan Cha, doctor in spatial planning and urbanism, urban planner and certified landscape architect and member and vice-president of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA); Eda Holmes, Artistic and Executive Director, Centaur Theatre, Montreal; Patrick Pellerin, graphic designer, Principal Studio, Montreal; François Leblanc, technical director, International Garden Festival and Alexander Reford, director, Reford Gardens and the International Garden Festival.

The competition attracted a total of 148 projects by over 700 architects, landscape architects, designers and artists from 27 countries. The new projects are illustrated here and can be seen on the web site of the Festival. All of the 148 entries are exhibited on the website of the Festival as part of the annual exhibition of competition entries, linked here.


Photography courtesy of Reford International Garden Fesitval / Jardins de Métis

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