Auburn University invited Wagon Landscaping (François Vadepied and Mathieu Gontier), along with Ruderal (Sarah Cowles), to lead a short, intensive workshop on one of the campus sites. The workshop was designed and coordinated by David Hill (Hillworks) and Rob Holmes, both faculty members at Auburn.
The objective was straightforward: to radically transform an existing space in just a few days. From a pedagogical standpoint, the workshop aimed to immerse students in a fast-paced design-build process, highlighting the need for action in the landscape profession and the constant adjustment of design intentions to on-site realities. A strong commitment to material reuse was established as a core principle of the project.
Students worked with a limited set of resources: a stockpile of inert demolition materials, a selection of perennials and shrubs, and hand tools. The site itself is a wide outdoor corridor near one of the campus entrances. Prior to the workshop, it was largely overlooked—an expanse of lawn with a few scattered shrubs, generally perceived as lying behind the several buildings that shape it—offering little plant diversity and minimal ecological value.
Students were tasked with transforming this neglected space using only the materials and plants available to them.
In just three days, students designed and built a landscape project using reclaimed demolition materials and resilient plant species. They adapted their initial design to the realities of a site, as well as to the human and material resources available—making this workshop a highly practical and formative experience.
Along time, students go on the process : observing and gardening the french drain evolving.
A French drain is a subsurface drainage system consisting of a perforated pipe laid in a trench filled with gravel or rock, designed to collect and redirect groundwater away from an area to prevent water accumulation and moisture-related issues.
It was the name given to the garden at the end of the three-day workshop. The French drain is a free interpretation of a technical drainage tool, adapted to the issue of reuse and to the dynamics of living systems.
Data
Participating students: Rachel Bass, Amy Whitley, Abby Garner, Elijah Healy, Samuel Vera, Ean Gove, Sofia Gomez Gutierrez, Shiuli Mukerjea, Juliana Rodriguez Trujillo, Martin Brice, Cristina Campos Perez, Nicole Fisher, Cheney McClelland, Caroline Stucky
Other faculty who helped with trucks: Isaac Cohen, Adam Molinski
Workshop funding: Auburn University College of Architecture, Design, and Construction; Auburn University School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture; Landscape Infrastructure Design Lab at Auburn University
Leading landscaping firm: Wagon Landscaping
