Most people see a garden as a static scene, a peaceful picture to be admired. But to IRE, a garden is a living poem that breathes, transforms, and interacts with every heartbeat.
“I come from a family where plants were never just decoration,” Edriss says. “They were companions, teachers, and stories. My father, Eng. Rachid Edriss shaped landscapes with passion and respect for every leaf, and I grew up believing that a garden should not only please the eye, but feed the soul and serve life itself.”
A Living Heritage
Raised among gardens that whispered stories of Lebanon’s seasons, Edriss inherited more than a profession; she inherited a vision. Today, her consultancy, IRE, builds upon decades of ecological understanding, merging art, science and spirit into landscapes that heal rather than consume.
Her approach extends beyond sustainability. It is regenerative, meaning that every design aims to restore the natural systems that support life to flourish: soil, water, biodiversity, and balance.
“In regenerative design,” she explains, “we don’t impose form upon the land. We listen to it. The site tells us what it needs to breathe again.”
The Garden That Changes with Every Breath
To Iffat, beauty in nature is never still. “You can look at a traditional garden for months or even years and see the same image. The same trees, the same flowers. But in a regenerative garden, every second is different. The garden shifts with light, wind and growth. It becomes a dialogue between you and the Earth.”
At IRE, we design gardens that change with time; where native plants evolve through the seasons, where water finds new paths and where pollinators, butterflies and birds shape the garden’s rhythm. “It’s not just a garden anymore. It’s an ecosystem, alive, responsive, unpredictable and magnificent.”
The Regenerative Principle
Through IRE’s modern techniques, landscapes become active participants in climate recovery; filtering air, supporting biodiversity and regenerating soil health. Every detail, from the roots to the skyline, is designed to function like a living organism. “A regenerative garden doesn’t only exist in space; it exists in time. It transforms, evolves and invites you to grow with it.”
This philosophy is shaping IRE’s work across Lebanon, from coastal restoration and urban green corridors to the poetic transformation of the Beirut Municipality Plant Nursery, a site of 21 gardens envisioned as a “mystic path” where people can reconnect with nature’s pulse.
A Call to the Future
IRE’s message to homeowners, designers and dreamers is both simple and urgent: “Let your garden be alive. Don’t ask for perfection, ask for movement, interaction and renewal. Let the flowers fade so that others can rise. Let the soil breathe. Let your garden become a place of exchange between you and the universe.”
To IRE, this is not a design philosophy. It is a way of life, a new chapter in the story of landscape architecture, where beauty and life coexist in harmony.
