Corporate gardens are a type of project that we had not dealt with until now in this blog, but there are a variety of projects where interesting solutions can be observed regarding the application of sustainable gardening criteria.
The D38 district is a project of a business park of 70,000 m2 on a 3.5 hectare plot, located at the foot of the southern slope of Montjuïc mountain, in the Zona Franca of Barcelona.
The glass parallelepiped by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki and FOA architects Ltd, completed in 2009, contains modular offices with landscaped terraces on each floor. According to the project idea, only 50% of the volumes could touch the ground and the ground floor would be freed for public use. So finally the urban landscape design occupies about 20,000 m2 between squares, terraces and slopes, generating a fabric in which public space and building are closely related.
The original landscaping project was carried out by the office ArquitecturaAgronomia by Teresa Galí. The project integrated a prairie of Carex muricata with a network of paved paths. The design referred to Zen gardens where the act of maintaining and caring for the garden is part of the meditation exercises. Translated to the landscape designed by Galí, an uninterrupted path of more than 1,500 meters was created accompanied by carex and a strip of lawn, 1 m wide, where the visitor could move as if he were a Zen monk raking the sand in the temple.
Between 2014 and 2016 AB Paisatgistes carried out the rehabilitation of these gardens. The state of the previous gardening had some deficiencies in relation to the drainage system, automatic irrigation and substrate thickness; limiting factors that affected the vitality and development of the existing vegetation.
It was decided to replace some plant species, improve the thickness of soils for the correct development of species and install a drip irrigation system. In the square located on level -1 it was decided to reduce the central planter, a pergola with climbing plants, benches and large metal pots with species such as _[Salvia microphylla](http://www.salagraupera.com/es/cataleg/general/item/salvia-microphylla-2)_, _ [Bulbine fructescens 'Hallmarck'](http://www.salagraupera.com/es/cataleg/general/item/bulbine-frutescens-hallmarck-3)_ or _ [Agapanthus 'Peter Pan'](http://www.salagraupera.com/es/cataleg/general/item/agapanthus-peter-pan-3)_ were installed.
Surface runoff problems were resolved with the planting of groundcovers such as _[Rosmarinus officinalis 'Boule'](http://www.salagraupera.com/es/cataleg/general/item/rosmarinus-officinalis-boule-3)_ or _[Ficus pumila](http://www.salagraupera.com/es/cataleg/general/item/ficus-pumila-3)_ and low-growing species such as _[Phylica ericoides](http://www.salagraupera.com/es/cataleg/general/item/phylica-ericoides-3)_, among others.
In the planters around the buildings many species have been replaced by associations of _[Stipa tenuissima](http://www.salagraupera.com/es/cataleg/graminies/item/stipa-tenuissima-2)_, \Imperata cylindrica,\ [Dianella](http://www.salagraupera.com/es/cataleg/general/category/dianella-phormiaceae-3), different varieties of Roses\* _and_ Erigeron karvinskianus \***.
Today, the result of the rehabilitation is satisfactory, but the original concept that sought to confer unity and austerity to the relationship between landscaping and building has been lost. On the other hand, currently there are lush plantings and more colorful landscaping with great seasonal variability.
Images: M. Galante