ATTERNo GARTEN

1st year Master of Landscape Architecture Studio

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

October 2021

This garden was inspired by a memory from my childhood. I remember my sister and myself with our heads bent over the moss in our grandparents' backyard, playing, searching, resting on the soft ground, turning our attentiveness to the earth.
Our design brief for this project was to create a garden that honored a plant from our past. I chose the Haircap Moss (Polytrichum commune) in reference to the one of the many mosses we found as children.
Through the lush texture of moss and the fallen needles of White Pine and the flowers of a Japanese Cornel Dogwood I aimed to turn the audiences' attention towards the ground. The shape of the garden was extrapolated from a cross section of the stem of Haircap Moss and aimed to give a feeling of intimacy and promote a sense of curiousity.
The name of the garden is a call back to my heritage. 'Atterno' is comprised of two Italian words attenzione meaning 'attention' and terreno meaning 'ground'. Garten is the German word for 'garden'.