Walk up the Mound You first cross a fence, and a threshold of river-washed stones set in an s-curve, and then walk over the phrase 'Festina Lente' cut in aluminium. 'Hurry to go slow' is the admonishment for those entering, as it was in the Renaissance garden. The idea then was to slow visitors down by making them think hard about the ornament and symbolism, Here they have to decode the swirls in the aluminium sheet, the s-curves of the strange attractor underfoot. Also present are signs of the cardinal points, the sun and inner planets (on the man-hole cover) and other symbolic ornament. From here you descend to the steps for seating, or coast down the ramp, and turn left; then mount a gently-rising, thin arm of the mound. This invites you up slowly and branches into several paths. The arm has a slight curve, nothing is ever straight, heightening the flat terraces in their relative movement. The high point, and culmination, is just before the switch back and it cups the view from the Gallery containing the whole site and flat lawn. Here the view opens in all directions, and there's a choice. You can slowly descend on the s-curve, appreciating the water following the path on both sides, or else switch back and descend on a steeper slope to the road. The superiority of this design over the others is the way it gradually discloses the temple front of the Gallery, then the whole building, thus providing a certain expectation and discovery. Excerpted from The Universe in the Landscape by Charles Jencks All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
