Quito Hyperseasonal Park – Garden of Unearthly Delights
An ideas competition to transform Quito’s Mariscal Sucre International Airport into an urban park. Our proposal takes one of the site’s most distinguishing geographic and ecological features, its proximity to the equator, as the primary generator of the design and visitor experience of the park.
What if the unique geographic and environmental conditions of the site are used to create a one-of-a-kind landscape?
With Quito situated on the Equator, daylight and temperatures remain constant throughout the year, as does precipitation – undermining cyclical
seasonality. Working with these unvarying environmental conditions, the park leverages plant photoperiods, response to temperature and water availability to create new seasons on site.
Working with native and transplanted flora, plants with a photoperiod of under 12 hours will be in bloom all year round, while those requiring over 12 hours will remain evergreens. Flora that require water for blooming or dry conditions offer another set of conditions controlling the parks vegetation.
Based on plants response to site conditions the plan offers a choreographed otherworldly theatre of seasonality. Transcendent seasons are forged – summer is paired with winter, spring crossed with fall; three or four seasons can be clustered together.
The park is envisioned as a highly experiential green space that allows the intensity of experiencing several seasons simultaneously. Born from unique environmental conditions, the introduction of a planting and water management framework will create an animated icon for the city, a new garden of unearthly delights.
