Wing & Compass

Key Biscayne, Florida

Dan Kiley, one of the most important and visionary Modernist landscape architects of all time, practiced under the principle that a designer must “get the diagram right first”. He went as far as to say, “if the diagram is wrong, everything will be wrong”. It feels absolutist but he wasn’t incorrect. The point being, diagrams are necessary tools that graphically represent the workings and relationships of design concepts and solutions. They are ‘graphic explanations’ of a designer’s thought process and problem-solving skills. Once the diagram is ‘right’, everything else seems to fall in place.

Wing & Compass is no exception. If you were to view a positive vs. negative space diagram of the site plan, many of the concepts for the workings and relationships of the site become apparent. What’s most interesting about this diagram though, is that the positive spaces, with their simple yet thoughtful arrangement, have created extremely impactful ‘negative spaces’ that are integral to the overarching concepts of the project. Because the site plan puts so much emphasis on the negative spaces being created by the architecture, we feel the result will be a perfectly balanced site plan with a garden that complements the architecture and contributes to the overall success of the project.