Medtronic Patent Garden

Snow rests upon the edge of the Corten wall, highlighting its form and movement, during winter.

The garden is located between a parking facility, a pedestrian link and the walls of the corporate library and research center, and may have become an uninteresting and vacant space between buildings.

By engaging simple design elements and materials, the garden became a Zen-like courtyard space. It is a perfect square, 100' on each side, of crushed stone. Centered within the square is a 70' wide circle of lawn enclosed by a 1" - thick Corten steel wall. The symbolism inherent within the act of squaring the circle is intended to reconcile the heavenly and infinite with the earthly and man-made, and provides the backdrop for the contemplative space.

Late afternoon shadows fall across a section of 'patent buttons,' each etched with the number of a currently held patent and embedded in the wall according to decade.

The square horizontal plane of the base form offers counterpoints to the vertical forms of the spiralling Corten-Steel wall, the specimen Red Maple and deciduous and evergreen plantings. The Corten-Steel wall spirals up from grade to a height of 10', representing the ever-increasing rate of innovation, acting as an abstract gallery from which to display an array of patent buttons. Stainless steel buttons, each etched with the number of a currently held patent, are embedded in the wall according to decade. Individual brass buttons represent patents of distinction.

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