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Designer, activist, academic,
and author of Lo—TEK,
Design by Radical Indigenism.
A leading expert of Lo—TEK nature-based technologies for climate-resilience.
Her eponymously named studio brings creative and conceptual, interdisciplinary thinking to urban projects and corporate clients interested in systemic and sustainable change. Julia regularly teaches urban design at Harvard and Columbia University.
SoHo Cartier Boutique
Rooftop Dream Garden
Date: 2022-2023
Location: New York, USA
Project Team: Watson Salembier
Client: Cartier
Cartier’s Dream Garden is an elevated lush oasis where people are immersed in a magical Greenscape composed of enchanting, columnar shapes and green clouds.
From the Juxtaposition of the Controlled and the Wild, Beauty emerges.
Soho has a long history of contrast & aesthetic juxtaposition. Its roots dictated the construction of row upon row of light industrial use warehouses , characterized by strict lines and the use of heavy and robust materials. These formal geometries stand in contrast to the informal and ever-evolving palette of artistic interventions that have colored the streets, composed by a long line of artists that fell in love with this place.Soho is a dynamic and continuously evolving landscape that retains a fluid identity. Its spirit still attracts and inspires artists, creators, designers and dreamers. Contrasting the permanent and the ephemeral, the controlled and the wild, a sublimely seasonal and unique urban landscape that is composed of the flora of the American North Eastern will emerge.
Our design will embody the Permanent and Controlled by using materials that are characteristic of Soho’s architecture - both reminiscent of its industrial past and cast iron identity. The structures, materials and furniture will celebrate the industrial lineage that later became the characteristic Soho loft.
Plants represent the art of nature, being both everchanging, sublime and following a cyclic flow. The flora of the North East of the US has the most unique variation of color and texture throughout the year. Using indigenous native plants we will create a planting palette that constantly evolves, creating seasonal variation. The planted landscape will create a dynamic and constantly changing space that visitors will discover anew every time they come.
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