Urban Garden Designer of the Year 2005

"utterly invigorating... dynamic and considered..." 

- Diarmuid Gavin

Below is the entry submitted by Marcus Busby and Dario Balboni.

The design was selected amongst the final five finalists and published in Garden Design Journal May 2005.

The scheme was described by judge Diarmuid Gavin as being an "utterly invigorating illustration of a dynamic and considered show plot."

The title for the design competition was "Urban Inspirations." In order to draw inspiration from this title, a wander around London with a sketch book camera was undertaken. Walking along the Southbank looking acroos the Thames River, the homogeny in materials used in contemporary architecture was noted - mainly glass, concrete and some slate, with the occasional bit of sandstone. There were also elements of copper used in either guttering or modern sculptures found outside some office blocks. The design utilised these main urban materials. Something else which became apparent was the sheer multiplicity of perspectives, depths and range. For this reason the design aimed to capture this by playing with perspective - for instance the glass planetrs were designed with irregular sides and tops which distort the conventional 3-dimensional cube. Also the pathways exhibit disappearing vistas of of varying materials, intended to foster alternative and ubexpected perspectives.

Finally the planters were stratified - how soil is layered, with firstly soil, then consumables e.g shoes, watches, cameras, mobile phones, then soil, then planting. The planters were designed to built from transparent material such as perspex or glass, much like a wormery or ant farm in a class room.  The idea behind this was to exhibit the ephemerality of consumables and indeed consumerism itself, for if we ignore her, nature will once again consume our ignorance!