In 2023, together with my friend and fellow landscape architect Viktória Lilla Varga, we entered the international competition of the Festival Internacional de Jardins de Ponte de Lima in Portugal. Our proposal, the Plein Air Garden, was selected among ten winning entries to be built for the 2024 season.

Inspired by the festival’s theme, “The Imaginary in the Art of Gardens”, our design drew on Impressionism and the 19th-century plein air painting movement, when artists painted outdoors to capture the fleeting beauty of nature. We envisioned a lush, flower-filled garden where visitors could wander, lose themselves in colour and texture, and find new inspiration. The light, airy Plein Air Pavilion with its floating canvas roof offered a shaded retreat, while dynamic planting — perennials mixed with fast-growing annuals ensured months of abundant blooms.

It was an honour to be part of this wonderful festival celebrating garden culture, made possible with the generous support of our sponsors — Magyar Tájépítészek Szövetsége and Magyar Kertörökség Alapítvány.