A Garden in the Desert
Fly Ranch, NevadaI use only local resources - soil, water, sun - to create a paradise garden and greenhouse in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, using rammed earth, local rainfall, and passive heating/cooling earthworks. The landscape here is extreme: salty soils and wind limit plant growth, yet the land is stunning beyond doubt. The goal is to create a site that invites people to feel both the genius locii of the desert AND the highly designed/engineered nature of the garden. Indeed, in order to create the garden, I have to store rainwater in a cistern and channel it into a garden that is raised above the salty soil of the land. I represented the site through a series of vignettes.
