Ever since the birth of architecture the domestic garden has played a key role in defining a home. The large, ostentatious gardens of the nobility, now converted into urban parks, were echoed on a smaller scale by attempts to reproduce a piece of nature and incorporate it into a structured living environment. A series of innovative interpretations of the domestic landscape has led to an enormous range of patios, terraces and gardens, all of which are illustrated here in hundreds of photographs (with floor plans included) that enable the reader to investigate the present-day function and form of these spaces all over the world. With contributions from renowned architects and landscape gardeners, this book serves as a useful introduction to the ideas that have inspired the design of the modern garden and to the forms and materials that have made it unique.

The author Patricia Pérez Rumpler was trained as a landscape gardener by the Bodenkultur University in Vienna and as a landsape architect by Higher Technical School of Architecture in Barcelona. She currently has her own office in Barcelona, from which she undertakes projects for public spaces, as well as working for the provincial government of Barcelona.