The museum of modern art is found on a thin, arid strip of land, perpendicular to the ocean just nearby, situated within a characteristic Californian suburban fabric. Our project sought to exploit the distinctive features of the terrain by digging a long canyon through it whose gardened banks would frame views of the ocean. With only the canyon being irrigated, the upper areas of the garden remain arid. All humidity and stormwater is funneled and collected in the canyon through a series of successive dams. As a result, lush vegetation spreads across this fissure in the ground.

The “dams” are created out of walls which, gradually aligning as they descend into the canyon, eventually become parallel to form the built structure of the museum and as a support for its lightweight covering.

Slight shiftings in the ground, and the gullies that form through it, are contained within the garden walls that adjoin the museum. In such configuration, these pockets receive the runoff water collected on the top of the walls during storms.

The museum's lightweight covering is formed out of a horizontal sheet fixed into the slope. Made up out of small-dimensioned modular elements, like an enlarged video screen, it allows for the artificial presentation of a small garden atop it, a mosaic-type image of a piece of nature. This garden image serves as a trace of the piece of nature beneath it.