Six winning "Playsages" for the 2017 International Garden Festival in Reford Gardens

Quebec is still in the middle of winter, but the iconic Reford Gardens in Grand-Métis is already looking forward to warmer days ahead for the 2017 International Garden Festival this summer. In response to the all-too-familiar “nature-deficit disorder” in society these days, participants in this year's competition had to create inventive “Playsages” that would inspire, if not remind, today's tech-savvy kids and adults to spend more time outdoors.

Out of 162 proposals from 30 countries, six lucky designers had the winning schemes that will be exhibited during the 2017 International Garden Festival starting June 23.

Here's a first look at the winning installations below.

LA CHRYSALIDE by landscape architects Gabriel Lacombe & Virginie Roy-Mazoyer, Vancouver (British Colombia) & Montreal (Quebec) Canada

Project description: “An invitation to take a break in time, between childhood and adulthood, to climb into the tree, make a nest and lay there to dream.”

PAYSAGE EUPHONIQUE by MANI [Claudia Campeau, architect & Maud Benech, designer m. arch.] Montreal (Quebec) Canada

Project description: “A set of giant play facilities creates a tension in our rapport with the landscape and forces us to see and hear nature differently.”

SOUNDCLOUD by Johanna Ballhaus, landscape architect & Helen Wyss, architect, Montreal (Quebec) Canada & Fribourg (Switzerland)

Project description: “Bells attached to the ends of metal rods create the illusion of mist and clouds where a dialogue with nature begins and where stories can be told.”

HAIKU by architects Francisco A. Garcia Pérez & Alessandra Vignotto, Granada (Spain)

Project description: “A lonely swing in the forest, a flooded path, a motionless stone. Everything is in place to appreciate the cycle of the forest life.”

L'ESCALE by Collectif Escargo [Pierre-Yves Diehl, designer, Karyna St-Pierre, landscape architect & Julie Parenteau, arts teacher], Montreal (Quebec) Canada

Project description: “Small plots of land on wheels and wagons for children are made available to be chosen, adopted, and brought along while visiting the Garden Festival site.”

THE WOODSTOCK by Atelier Yok-Yok [Steven Fuhrman, Samson Lacoste & Luc Pinsard, architects, Laure Qarémy, teacher & Pauline Lazareff, architect engineer], Paris (France)

Project description: “An unusual playground grows in the shade of trees and forms a play space where the children become giants, perched at the top of the wooden causeway.”

The jury also awarded two projects with a special mention:

Bleu Forêt by Pelouse [Anthony Bergoin, architect, Charlotte Deslandes & Cindy Ianniciello, graphic designers, Vincent Lalonde Dupuy, environmental designer & Xavier Laurin, industrial designer], Montréal (Québec) Canada

LogOn by PORT [Christopher Marcinkoski, architect, Megan Born, landscape architect & Andrew Moddrell, architect], Philadelphia, PA (USA)

2017 jury:
Amélie Germain, landscape architect with the Ville de Québec (co-designer of Nettoyage à sec for the 2005 and 2006 edition of the Festival)
Erick Rivard, architect and urban designer, Groupe A / Annexe U from Quebec City (co-designer of Se mouiller – la belle échappée for the 2015 and 2016 edition of the Festival)
Vadim Siegel, architect, ABCP architecture from Quebec City
François Leblanc, technical director of the Festival
Alexander Reford, director of the International Garden Festival and Les Jardins de Métis

Check out previous International Garden Festival competitions in the links below.