“Plants [like buildings] can be figure or ground.� - Paul Hirzel
Left: Garden number 21 of Versailles that uses tall vegetation to make a wall and focus people’s attention on the axial pathway and the smaller figures on the side of the pathways. Lower: Diagram showing how the vegetation (gray) can be a wall (Figure/Mass) that highlights smaller vegetation elements (orange) with the use of a long axial void (ground).
Using Mass and Void to Achieve Figure and Ground Mass and voids are some of the simplest elements in architecture, but can have a profound affect on highlighting certain aspects of the design. Buildings in Paris are a good example, where the center courtyard is the void and buildings themselves are mass. Better yet, many of the gardens in Versailles use vegetation as mass and void to emphasize walkways (ground) and exaggerate the vegetation as a wall (figure). This leaves for a unique and powerful design composition that stresses order over nature.
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