The estate of Vaux-le-Vicomte is not a landmark of fame or a high amount of recognition. It lies in the shadows of Architect Louis Le Vau and landscape architect Andre Le Notre's masterpiece, the Palace of Versailles. Although it is the lesser known of the duo's work, it is not of lesser architectural value. It is set approximately 35 miles outside of Paris in the French countryside. Construction of the palace began in 1641, and was officially completed in 1661, the gardens however took much longer to complete because of the time required for the foliage to fully develop. .
The entire site is placed in a dense area of trees, which provides the gardens with somewhat a sense of seclusion (figure 1). The fact that it is surrounded by trees, makes Vaux-le-Vicomte a figural void in it's surrounding landscape. The shape of the void is simply derived from a rectangle. Figure 2 illustrates how the shape of the landscape can be made from a rectangle by subtracting the small corner forms at the north end of the garden. The rectangle shape provides important organization that is mirrored throughout the design of the landscape and the palace encompassed by the gardens. Although the garden as a whole is a figural void, if looked at by itself, the gardens can be a figural object. The paths and circulation areas then become the figural voids in the design as illustrated by figure 3.
The organization of Vaux-le-Vicomte is fairly simple. There is one axis that runs north-south through the landscape, and most of the central paths, and circulation spaces run to or from this main axis (figure 4). This axis is also mirrored in the layout of the actual palace on the site. Not only is the axis in the same direction, but it is in fact part of the same axis that runs throughout the entire garden (figure 5). There is a paradise garden, or Persian rug parti that originates nearly in the center of the garden, at a junction that Le Notre actually called the Partee (figure 6).
