"Back To Our Roots Garden"
The above image is of my concept design for a showgarden at 2010’s RHS Hampton Court Flower Show. It was produced on behalf of the Landscape Juice Network who held a competition between four garden designers on the network (including me) to produce a concept design which was to be voted on and constructed by the networks members.
To cut a long story short, I did not ‘win’ but thought I would put my concept up for all to see anyway!
Brief:
A garden to demonstrate whats happened to the earth since creation and what might happen in the future as a result of man actions.
Thought Process:
At the beginning of the universe all that existed was a concentrated point of energy called the singularity. From this point exploded all the matter that we know of in the known universe in a process called the big bang. After the earth formed it quickly became volcanic and these processes formed new land (as they still do today) in the form of basalt. As the thicknesses of these layers built up, the pressures on them increased and formed new rocks such as granites. As the seas were formed and plant/animal life took hold, new sedimentary rocks such as limestone were formed in layers on the sea bed. The earths temperature proceeded to heat up and cool down in cycles and as a result of the ice ages new soft rocks such as clays were formed.
This underlying geology changes as to which part of the UK/world you live in and is the main influence on what your localitys topography looks like, its building materials, its soils and natural vegetation. I have used this as a metaphor in my design to represent the geographical distribution of LJNs members.
I have also tried to tell the story of mans development from a cave dweller through Egyptian/Roman civilisations to the modern industrial/computer age that we like in today.
Expected climate change is represented by the planting of exotic species of fruiting trees/shrubs that may flourish in the South of the UK if temperatures continue to rise as is the use of sails to shade the users/shade loving plant of the garden from the sun. As much of the garden as possible is to be designated to the growing of edible foodstuffs and these are to be stored in the root cellar
The number 1.618 (the golden ratio) underlies the whole of the design as it plays a part in the entire history of nature and man (the shape of our galaxy, the shape of shells/plants, the proportions of humans/buildings and pyramids etc.
The main message of the garden is that we may have to return to some ancient/exotic methods of gardening/living in the future to adapt to climate change.
