safe zone / jardin de métis

Safe Zone is a garden installation selected through a competitive process for the International Garden Festival at Grand-Métis, Quebec. The proposal is a reformulated pleasure garden utilizing an array of readily available commercial products designed for potentially dangerous conditions and situations, yet turns them into playful use: poured-in-place rubber surfacing made from recycled rubber, plastic warning strips, traction mats, goal post bumpers— materials of everyday landscapes (subway platforms, sidewalks, playgrounds, sports fields) isolated and coerced into a provocative and interactive garden installation.

The garden is a topography of code and regulation—essentially a manufactured three-dimensional garden (hillocks and valleys) that require protective measures and materials. The undulating, synthetic surface was designed to stretch over a rippling, activated ground plane woven into a clearing in the woods. The result is an an open, undulating topography, fluid in its definition and purpose, available for unconstricted exploration and experimentation.

Installation was conducted by garden staff under direction of Yvan Maltais. Services and materials donated and discounted by:
Jim Knowles and Paul Wellington, Cape Fear Systems, Solplast, SofSurfaces, SofSolutions, Recovery Technologies, and US Rubber Recycling.