Besides providing access for pedestrians and cyclists to surrounding neighborhoods, the walkways intersect at varying angles, forming a mosaic of irregularly shaped and multitextured fields between. Each of these individual botanic gardens, as Blaisse refers to them, is planted with a different composition of flora, from herbs, shrubs, and roses to bamboo and aquatic plants. Some of the larger open, grassy patches are suitable for markets and events, while others provide areas for contemplation, play, or even have mazelike walkways. A series of ring-shaped stands of uniform trees—or circular forests—are programmed atop the dominant grid, “scattered like confetti,” says Blaisse, with each “embodying a sort of pavilion or room that you can inhabit and use as a protective space.” Like the fields, each of the rings is made up of a different single species.

As with all of Inside Outside’s projects, activating the built environment with a range of strategies was the core consideration of the park’s planning and design. At the Biblioteca degli Alberi, the firm has overlapped layers of program and visual cues to create a choose-your-own adventure of sorts, which will become more spatially rich once the landscaping grows in. The park has not yet experienced its first summer, but with areas for children, dogs and their owners, places to sit, and different conditions for exploration, it has already been energetically received. “You can make it as complex or as simple as you wish,” says Blaisse. “It’s all one big story.”