"The West 8 landscape architects and urban planners office was set up in 1987 as an international team of architects, urban designers and industrial designers. West 8 designs urban plans, squares, parks and gardens." "The philosophy of West 8 is deeply rooted in an optimistic attitude towards the contemporary landscape, in which it expresses both the vulnerability and the euphoria of mass culture. Landscape, infrastructure, nature and archaeology coalesce to form vital constituents of the city. Arcadian landscapes coexist alongside the dynamic, mutable and sprawling city unimpeded by architectural doctrines or history, the city stretches towards the horizon or shoots skywards. Space has acquired new dimensions that constantly put the sense of scale and proportion to the test. West 8 draws inspiration from the poetic beauty of the artless and the mundane." "The knowledge that the contemporary landscape is for the most part artificial and made up of different components, both designed and undesigned, allows West 8 the freedom to respond by posting its own narrative spaces. The basic ingredients are ecology, infrastructure, weather conditions, building programs and people. The aim is to incorporate the awareness of these various aspects in a playful optimistic manner that stimulates the desire to conquer and take possession of space. Gardens form the only exception. The organised world of commerce, functionality and efficiency finds its necessary counterpart in specific spaces that appeal to uncertainty, mortality, desire and perversity. The gardens are enclosed and withdrawn from the world. It is here that the human dwellers can literally retreat into themselves."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved