Karl Kullmann
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      • The Garden of Entangled Paths
      • Topographic Urban Innovations
      • Concave Worlds, Artificial Horizons
      • Disciplinary Convergence
      • The Usefulness of Uselessness
      • Hyper-Realism / Loose-Reality
      • Emergence of Suburban Terracing
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    • Public Gardens >
      • The Garden of the Forking Paths
      • Imprint Garden
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      • The Living Wall Esperance
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    • Datascapes >
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  • Teaching
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  • Contact
  • Home
  • BIO
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • Peer Reviewed Articles >
      • Landscape of Things
      • Design with (Human) Nature
      • Reconceptualizing Suburban Terracing
      • The Drone's Eye
      • Dis/orientation Machines
      • Mirage of the Metropolis
      • The Garden of Entangled Paths
      • Topographic Urban Innovations
      • Concave Worlds, Artificial Horizons
      • Disciplinary Convergence
      • The Usefulness of Uselessness
      • Hyper-Realism / Loose-Reality
      • Emergence of Suburban Terracing
      • Red Loops / Green Links
      • Topographically Sensitive Urbanism
      • Design for Decline
      • Green Networks
      • De/framed Visions
      • Thin Parks / Thick Edges
    • Professional Articles >
      • Things that Matter
      • The Shape of Things
      • Aerial Reconnaissance
      • Fields of Decline
      • Fluid Geographies
      • High Fidelity
      • Hong Kong, Grounded
      • Design Liquidity
      • Satellites' Progeny
      • Route Fittko
      • Ecologies of Spectacle
      • Grounding Urbanism
      • Garden of Resistance
      • De/framed Gardens
      • Leaping Bridges, Forking Paths
      • The Paradox of Place
      • Is Landscape...? Book Review
    • Book Chapters >
      • Cultivating the City
      • Aerial Visions / Ground Control
  • PRAXIS
    • Public Gardens >
      • The Garden of the Forking Paths
      • Imprint Garden
    • Urban Parks >
      • Fremantle Esplanade
      • Park Rabet Leipzig
      • Centennial Park Sydney
      • Father Collins Park Dublin
    • Urban Design >
      • Kings Square Fremantle
      • Bahnhofsvorplatz Wiesbaden
      • Claremont Oval Perth
      • Fremantle Entry Strategy
    • Linear Parks >
      • Green Line Toronto
      • Rails to Kale San Francisco Bay
      • Emscher River Ruhrgebiet
      • Grünzug Leinefelde
    • Architectural Landscapes >
      • White Lakes Baldivis
      • The Peninsula Perth
      • CBD Courts Perth
      • Freiheit Zentrum Bern
      • Bavaria Hamburg
      • Red Bluff Quobba Station
    • Memorials >
      • Reconciliation Place Canberra
      • Gallipoli Peace Park
    • Speculative Infrastructures >
      • The Living Wall Esperance
      • The Galehouse Fremantle
      • The Darkhouse Cockatoo Island
      • Primate Enclosure Kings Park
    • Datascapes >
      • Urban Growth Scenarios 2050 Perth
      • Mapping Perth Metropolitan area
  • Teaching
    • Design Theses
    • Urban Design Studio
    • Project Design Studio 3
    • Project Design Studio 2
    • Project Design Studio 1
    • Case Study Studio
    • Ecological Design Studio
    • Suburban Studio
    • Detail Studio
    • Rural Studio
    • Bioregional Studio
    • Foundation Studio
    • Digital Visualization Course
    • Ground Up Journal
  • Contact

The Garden of the Forking Paths
Xi'an, China, 2011

The collection of drawings and photographs document the conception, refinement and realization of a permanent exhibit at the 2011 Xi’an International Horticultural Exposition.
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In the collective Chinese imagination, rivers flow from west to east, but the Chan-Ba River, upon whose floodplain the garden is situated, flows in reverse—from east to west. Positioned within this site-specific hydrological myth, the garden conceptually reverses the automated tendency of water to converge, establishing in its place a system of divergent flows of both people and hydrology. Read metaphorically as an allegory for life, the bifurcating flows question a world view in which history converges to form a meta-narrative.
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Framed on two sides by a bamboo frame, the garden is entered through a single aperture at the highest corner of the site. Once over this threshold, the garden visitor considers a critical scene; the path and accompanying water runnel bifurcates repeatedly, so that one way becomes many, fanning out over the convex landform that runs down to the lake. At each fork, the visitor must make a choice. Further, as the way becomes clearer, paths begin to topographically separate.
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