Puli Garden: A Modern Wonderland by Chao-Hsiang Chen

Revolutionizing Landscape Design with Self-Sufficient Ecology

Chao-Hsiang Chen's inspiration for Puli Garden was drawn from the natural beauty of its location. The township's green hills, clear waters, and scattered villages provided a stunning backdrop for the design. The garden itself is contained within an unadorned, thick stone wall, creating a sense of seclusion and tranquility. Inside, trees with dark green shades create a calming atmosphere, offering a respite from the modern world.

What sets Puli Garden apart is its focus on creating a self-dependent ecosystem. Every plant in the garden has been carefully selected for its botanical characteristics and features. The designer spent time understanding the geological, environmental, climate, water, and soil conditions of the area to ensure the garden's sustainability. This attention to detail and respect for nature's processes are what make Puli Garden a unique landscape design.

The garden was realized through a careful balance of spatial characteristics, light, and shade to create a vivid picturesque scene. Chao-Hsiang Chen aimed to create a sensory experience for visitors, engaging their sense of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. This multi-sensory approach adds depth to the visitor's experience, making each visit to the garden a unique experience.

Spanning 22500 square meters, Puli Garden is a large-scale project that was completed in May 2013 in Nantou County, Taiwan. The design process involved extensive research, particularly into the growth of distinctive plants in different seasons. The result is a garden that changes with the seasons, offering a different landscape at the end of spring and fall.

Despite the challenges of creating a self-sufficient ecosystem, Chao-Hsiang Chen successfully overcame them to create a harmonious and invigorating atmosphere. The garden's design includes natural landscapes of dry creeks and farmlands, and surrounding mountains, seamlessly integrating the garden with its environment. The reflection of piling rocks and landscape of sky and mountain in the flowing water, with swimming fishes, creates a lively atmosphere that is both invigorating and calming.

Chao-Hsiang Chen's Puli Garden is a testament to the power of thoughtful and sustainable design. It is a revolution in landscape design, considering factors such as site, environment, climate, hydrology, and soil to create a garden that is not only beautiful but also self-sufficient. This commitment to sustainability and respect for nature earned Puli Garden the Silver A' Landscape Planning and Garden Design Award in 2017, a testament to its outstanding design and innovation.