Central Garden

Robert Irwin was a painter who gave up painting to work with light and space, and he approached the garden the way he approached a gallery, as an experience of perception. He changed the sound of the stream every few metres by laying different stones in its bed, so that you hear the water change as you descend. The plants are chosen for texture and colour rather than rarity, and the planting is remade every year, so no two visits look the same. Look at the crossing points on the path, where Irwin makes you turn and reveals a new view each time, and notice how the trees will eventually close over the walkway.

Richard Meier, the architect of the Center, wanted a formal garden of his own design and fought hard against Irwin's appointment, and the two men never really made peace. The result of that tension is one of the best loved places in Los Angeles. Irwin's own words are carved into the plaza: ever present, never twice the same; ever changing, never less than whole. Bring lunch, sit on the grass and watch the light move.

Did You Know? Irwin, who had never designed a garden, learned as he went and once said the project was the best painting he had ever made.