Hired as builders of the Jardin d’Érode, the Studio Basta collective discovered the Amiens Hortillonnages during the 2011 festival. The landscape designers were moved by the beauty of this place, and decided to return for a second time in 2012, this time as designers of an installation, with the desire to bring the visitors nearer to the water. In fact, they had noticed the preceding year that even working surrounded by water, and practically in the water, they only had very little contact with the aquatic world, despite this proximity. The focus of their design is therefore on the edges of the island, as close as possible to the bank: two wooden terraces incline in the form of benches, a succession of flat surfaces gently sloping down to the canal, a gentle transition between land and water. In contrast, the middle of the islet is a dense mass planted with Rosemary leaf willows, Salix rosmarinifolia:  the grey colour of their foliage, shaded with blue and green, appears to mirror the sky of northern France and its “rambleur”, a greyish light characteristic of Picardy landscapes. The whole gives the islet a very soft appearance, which blends into the surrounding landscape.

Born in 1980 and 1981 respectively, the Studio Basta group is made up of two landscape architects, Ben Busschaert and Kenny Windels, who met during a Masters in Landscaping course at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands.  In 2008 they came together to work on private gardens and public and semi-public spaces. Since then they have taken part in many garden festivals, in Germany, Norway and France, which they use as sources of inspiration for new projects.