Atlanta Botanical Garden — Edible Garden
- Location
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Period
- 2008–2010
- Firm
- MESA Design Group
- My role
- Junior Landscape Architect
- Disciplines
- Garden Design, Landscape Architecture, Visitor Experience
A MESA Design Group project for the Atlanta Botanical Garden, completed as a collaborative firm effort. Work completed with MESA Design Group as part of multidisciplinary project teams.
Project imagery and photography courtesy of MESA Design Group.
Renderings were prepared by other project-team members.
Context
The Edible Garden translated productive horticulture into a public visitor experience. Garden rooms, promenades, terraces, an amphitheater, water elements, living walls, and a demonstration kitchen were coordinated with the service and maintenance systems required to keep a working garden productive.
MESA Design Group's role
Landscape architect for the Edible Garden design and construction details.
My role
As a junior landscape architect on MESA Design Group’s team, I assisted with the garden design and development of construction details. My role supported the translation of the design concept into coordinated, buildable landscape elements. The presentation renderings shown in this archive were prepared by others.
Design challenge
The garden needed to be educational, beautiful, operationally realistic, and constantly changing. Visitor circulation, food production, events, service access, horticultural display, and seasonal maintenance all had to work together.
Approach
The design organized the program as a sequence of distinct but connected rooms, using strong geometry and varied planting to make production visible and inviting. Back-of-house functions were treated as part of the design system, not an afterthought.
Result
The completed garden created a sophisticated public setting for food, horticulture, learning, and gathering. The archive preserves concept plans, presentation material, technical drawings, and completed-work photography.
Looking back
This project is a reminder that the most engaging experiences often depend on invisible operational systems working well behind the scenes.