Despite the recent studies dedicated to discuss-ing the concept of architektonischer Garten (also called Architekturgarten or Gartenarchitektur), the discourse of this concept has not been given its justice due to the lack of a critical account of its definition and development. Presented as a brief examination of its historical transformation from a garden design approach to a spatial configuration model, this paper reinterprets the history of the architektonischer Garten concept with a focus on a relationship between the domestic living and its sur-rounding topography, which underlies the legacy of this important concept in the early history of modern architecture. Starting from offering a long-overdue definition of the architektonischer Garten concept, this paper places this concept among the set of models that characterized the spatial construction of early-20th-century modern architecture. Rather than “plastic,” “free,” “open,” or “flow,” which were coined by many early modern architects and critics as they respectively described related spatial concepts, the central feature of the architektonischer Garten idea, I argue, is “circumstantial” and “holistic.” My claim is that the architektonischer Garten concept was the most effective, and the key, solution, by virtue of our perception of spatial depth, capable of forming an integral whole consists of indoor space, outdoor topography, and the perceiving subject.
LIYANG DING 