5 min.
To the Ends of the Earth: A Grand Tour for the 21st Century
Richard Weller’s core thesis is that design, in particular landscape design, means something. This is not news to designers. For us, in fact, it’s a core truth. For much of the world, though, it is gently mind-shattering to think that made-scapes might be more than shrubs and duckponds.
This thesis tacitly structures and drives Weller’s new book, To the Ends of the Earth. The title may sound like a novel, but the subtitle – A Grand Tour for the 21st Century – positions the book rather as a guide, as if some contemporary Inigo Jones or John Ruskin might set off, book in hand, on the glorious global perambulation. The book’s heft, though, as well as its organisation, support Weller’s quip from his public lecture at the Melbourne School of…
