This garden is a team effort

Water, energy and sensuality: a conversation with garden architect Vital Bucher about designing the secret Traube garden.

He comes straight from a client meeting and soon rushes off to a meeting with the civil engineering office. In between, he takes time for a cup of tea and a short but deeply relaxed conversation.

Doris Büchel: Vital, there are two professions in your job title – a gardener and an architect. Which of those is the overriding role?
Vital Bucher: My projects start with a blank sheet of paper or a site plan and the client’s wishes. The Traube client wanted to create a kind of secret garden. The aim was to create a place that could be discovered, offering guests different places with different moods. This is what I use as a basis for starting the design process. At the end of the day, selecting plants and placing them on site is only a small part of my work. So to answer your question: my profession is more that of an architect than that of a gardener.

How do you go about it? Do you do your drawings digitally? Or by hand?
I’m not one of those people that has a finished picture in my head right from the start. My gardens are created while drawing, on the drawing board, by hand. Designing means rejecting, correcting and developing ideas until an inner feeling of happiness sets in. This indicates to me that I am close to the goal and can present the plan to the client. It was the same here. This first draft was well received and now we have reached the detailed planning and implementation phase. It’s a kind of on-site fine-tuning and some things are still being developed. A pavilion is being built above the simple wooden deck, and the parasol that was planned originally will now become a folding pergola. Lighting will be improved for the rose arches, and so on.

It’s one thing to design a garden on a drawing board within your own four walls. But quite another to bring this plan into fruition in situ. What stage is your favourite?
The most beautiful phase is the creation process – when the garden thrives on paper. I love this creative part, drawing from the pool of ideas – in the beginning, anything is possible. Then, by imagining yourself in the place and those who will use and bring the garden to life, a form starts to emerge.

«You know what I’m talking about. There are some spots on earth where we feel comfortable, where we can recharge and where we like going.»

What about the other part? The implementation? The detailed planning?
When it comes to implementation phase, there’s still a lot to flesh out with the choice of materials and plants. That’s exciting. It’s like building a house. First comes the rough planning, then it’s about the furnishings and then, finally, the details. It’s this early stage of implementation we find ourselves in currently. The thing that’s so special about the Traube garden is that sometimes up to 10 people take part in the sessions: the clients, the restaurant host, the architects, the interior designer, the gardener ... Other specialists are consulted depending on the issue at hand – well builders, locksmiths, lighting designers, electricians, and so on. Here at the Traube, I’m acutely aware that this garden is a team effort. It’s all hands on deck. It’s nice because everyone has their own say, everyone is working towards the same goal and we’re an extraordinarily good team. The challenge is to coordinate everything – the schedule is tight but fun! Urs Engler from the architectural firm Berger + Partner has been a great support to me here.

What’s important to you? Are there things you obsess over?
It is important to me that no corner is overlooked, and that the details are neatly in place too. In the end, everything should come together to form a harmonious whole. But a garden must also be functional. The Traube garden, for example, will accommodate 60 people. This is a must. And every now and then you have to make compromises, even at the expense of aesthetics. A manhole cover is where it is (laughs) ... Recently, I’ve been busy with something completely different. Last year I did an apprenticeship in geomancy. It’s about the science of perception of the earth. Just as we humans have veins and a meridian system through which energy flows, the earth has a very powerful and subtle energy system too. When you key into a place geomantically, you become immersed with its energy, force and magnetic fields. You know what I’m talking about. There are some spots on earth where we feel comfortable, where we can recharge and where we like going. Basically, it’s ancient knowledge that geomancy has brought back into consciousness. Up until now, I’ve mainly designed gardens into places of well-being intuitively. This new ancient knowledge has opened up completely new doors to me, enabling me to grasp a place in terms of its energy and consciously harmonise it. By doing so, we can actually create places of power. This is something that’s very close to my heart.

Speaking of places of power, which spot will be your personal highlight?
My personal highlight will be the one that proves most challenging to us during the implementation: the water and all the different fountains. The element of water is almost omnipresent in the Traube garden, it follows the guest and forms a central aspect. Water is a very sensual element and is connected to our stomach chakra. With that in mind, it fits in perfectly with Gasthaus Traube, where eating, pleasure and well-being are the focus.

Vital, one last question: What singles you out? What are the hallmarks of your work as a garden architect? Good question. I think it’s my empathy for people and places and that I can create something tailored out of it. Vital Bucher isn’t a brand. I don’t have a set style. Of course, my plans bear all my hallmarks. But no two of my gardens are the same. This has led to me primarily planning private gardens. That’s what I like the most.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us!