Neil Porter on Gustafson Porter's concept for Hadiqat as-Samah - the Garden of Forgiveness - in Beirut

The Garden of Forgiveness has far-reaching aspirations beyond the realm of usual projects, spelling out hope for the future for the war-torn city of Beirut.

We won the project in competition in 1999 and then had a year of negotiations agreeing the contract with our client Solidere. The garden is conceived as a symbolic focal point for change and healing that creates a calm, uplifting place for both solitary reflection and togetherness. The 2.5ha location incorporates a key archaeological site and is overlooked by important religious buildings, including the main cathedrals for the three Christian religions and two major mosques. So during the design process we spent a lot of time in discussions with the department of archeology, and the various religious denominations and community leaders.

We knew that if we brought religion close to the concept we'd have difficulties. Instead, our main concept is about sharing. Whatever their background, all the Beirut communities spoke of their love of landscape and we saw that sharing a landscape was symbolically very important. Added to this, the archaeological heritage on the site, dating back 5,000 years, represented a shared history. This sparked our vision of a shared city, and more specifically a public space within the city, which could be shared by everyone, containing gardens where people can meet and socialise. This multiuse landscape would be a major undertaking - we spent a lot of time demonstrating to archaeologists how the garden could bring the landscape up to the remains.

In our concept, visitors experience the changing fragrance and atmospheres of the Lebanese landscape as they descend through the garden alongside rills and irrigation channels. At the top of the ramp are trees of the mountain regions. These give way to groves of olive and fruit trees and a plantation of citrus trees that represents the lush coastal plain. At the base of the ramp is a pedestrian bridge and square to the archaeology garden. The most striking archaeological feature is the Cardo Maximus Roman street, which is left partially exposed.

Hadiqat as-Samah - the Garden of Forgiveness - in Beirut

We got as far as starting on the retaining walls. One of the problems was the site's proximity to the Lebanon's Houses of Parliament, which meant that part of it was always filled with an army barracks. There were long - so far unsuccessful - negotiations to move this off the site to one nearby.

The other problem was the political situation. Just when you think there's stability there's another flare-up in tensions, when all focus moves away from the building project to the emergency in hand. We were working full speed until the Israeli bombing of Southern Lebanon in 2004. Momentum was regained after the war, only to be scuppered again by the Iraqi war. We were then moved sideways on to another square project elsewhere in the city. Then three or four years ago there was the idea of the Aga Khan becoming involved in the garden project, but nothing came of that.

Given the nature of the scheme, it takes a lot of extra work to keep it in public minds, and over the years we've been motivated through raw passion for the project rather than payment.

Every time you think you're building up energy again, another emergency happens. Meanwhile the archaeology is slowly disintegrating, and the project is still there waiting to be done.

But we haven't given up hope. We still hope to get a phone call to say that the army has moved off. Then, we'd be all systems go.

Neil Porter is a founding partner of landscape architecture practice Gustafson Porter

Simon Henley of Henley Halebrown Rorrison's plan for the Unilever Evaluation Centre, Port Sunlight

The Unilever Evaluation Centre at Port Sunlight is very much a 'what-if' project for us.

We won the job when we were making our mark in the design of working environments and were working on offices for TalkBack.

Had Unilever been built we'd have probably have gone in a different direction as a practice by transferring our thinking on working environments to blue-chip companies and developer-led speculative offices. As it was, we went more into education, health and housing instead of workplace. Whether it would've turned out better, who knows?

It was an interesting brief that was really two projects in one. The first was to refurbish a Fifties Nuffield-type block, which Unilever used for R&D, general office space and labs.

We were also designing a new two-storey extension that plugged into the existing building containing a foyer, box office and studios where the public would be invited to test prospective products, with viewing rooms for Unilever scientists to watch and work out how to apply their technical innovations for use as appealing products. Back in 2001 it was the first time we'd come across the use of 3D printing to make prototypes.

We conceived the building as clad in sinusidal metal cladding but at the same time quite civic and pavilion-like with a huge cantilevered porch. There was a glazed courtyard where we were inspired by the work of the artist Dan Graham to create a transparent labyrinth effect, and inside we were going to use translucent ceilings.

The whole thing was quite crystalline. It would have been a really fascinating building to build - and a very unusual one for Unilever to undertake.

We've never taken a project so far and not got it built. We had planning permission, done a set of working drawings and were just about to go out to tender and then it was cancelled because the client - Unilever - decided to locate the centre in the Netherlands instead. In multinational blue-chip companies buildings are humble pawns in the business process. If the business model changes, the building doesn't happen.

Interestingly, we are now returning to the workplace field, but it's been a long hiatus.

Simon Henley is principal of Henley Halebrown Rorrison, previously Buschow Henley.