ANDREA COCHRAN

ANDREA COCHRAN
Landscape Architect
USA
Find out more here: www.acochran.com

AC is one of my all time favorite designers, who combines bold modernist design with natural forms, plants and landscapes to soften hard edges. She is so uncluttered in her designs, and plays with large open areas to make you feel simultaneously within a garden and also within the landscape beyond its boundaries. She is based and does most of her work in San Fransico, and therefore chooses materials and plants that she knows will be enhanced by the light or by reflections of the sky.
In an interview I read with her (on the American Society of Landscape Architects website) she sights these modernist designers + minimalist artists as an influence on her work: Dan Kiley / Garrett Eckbo / James Rose / Robert Irwin / Fred Sandback 

This is a nice quote from her, talking about a rooftop garden she created for an affordable housing community:

"The point I started with was that I saw this man up there, he had the most beautiful broccoli growing in his two by three foot bed, and I don't know what else was in there, but this broccoli was unbelievably beautiful. He said I come up here and this is my therapy. I can get my hands in the dirt. I was almost in tears. I thought it was the most meaningful thing I'd ever done to just give this guy a chance to just be outside, be in the sun and work with his hands in the dirt and grow something in the five foot square plot. I think it's really worked well. When he's up there working, teenagers come up and hang out. Adults are up there working on their gardens so the teenagers are being monitored. It's not a leftover space, isolated, where things can happen. It becomes this environment that's more of a community, and people kind of watch out for one another".

 
 

PLANTS AND PLANTING SYMBOLS GRAPHICS SHEET

These are the plants I chose for the border I designed for the plants and planting graphics sheet. I was particularly interested in creating late summer - autumn interest as well as providing winter structure.

Acer griseum

Fagus sylvatica (hedge)

Buxus sempervirens (cubes)

Salvia nemerosa 'Caradonna'

 

Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing'

 Digitalis purpurea 'Alba'

Geranium renardii

Iris 'Lightning Streak'

Pachysandra terminalis

Deschampsia cepitosa

Stipa gigantea

 

KANTO SHIGEMORI GARDEN INSTITUTE CO.

KANTO SHIGEMORI GARDEN INSTITUTE CO.

Japan

I can't find much more information on these gardens or this company, but I really like the work they have done. These images cover a few of their projects

 

 

 

MIREI SHIGEMORI

MIREI SHIGEMORI (1896-1975)
Landscape Architect / Japanese garden history expert
Find out more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirei_Shigemori

This is a really important statement for me about the work of Shigemori:

"Shigemori...spoke extensively of the growing estrangement between people and the primordial power of nature, and his gardens are full of hybrid symbols that seek to reveal the cultural and natural histories their sites. Traditional garden forms are reinterpreted with modern materials and attempt to reengage the viewer with the ever developing continuum of Japanese culture".

 

Going to look out for this:

ULF NORDFJELL

Ulf Nordfjell
Landscape Architect
Sweden
http://www.nordfjellcollection.se/ 

Swedish garden designer Ulf Nordfjell is one of my biggest design heroes. When describing his garden design style, he states:

 "...Swedish nature is always present in my design and I like to use natural materials, but the structure of my parks and gardens is always modern, with very strong design elements". 

For me the combination of clean, modern hard landscaping in materials like wood and stone combined with looser more naturalistic planting creates gardens that are beautiful, strong balanced and functional.

I will reference his work a lot when working on this current project. The garden design styles I have chosen (woodland/japanese/minimalist) will need careful consideration when getting the right balance of materials and landscaping. Nordfjell seems to always be conscious of not letting one element dominate the others and of leaving space where it is needed. 
 

 

  

 

MINIMALIST GARDEN

The second garden theme that interests me is the Minimalist style. In my opinion it is one of the most difficult garden design styles to execute well, because the elements are so limited that there is no where to hide. I think it would be good though, to practice really limiting my materials and plant options to see what the outcome is.

I also think that this design style will work well with the restricted 5mx7m size of plot that we have for this project - as often urban, roof top and courtyard gardens opt for a minimalist design approach

NEO BANKSIDE

NEO BANKSIDE
London, UK
Gillespies (www.gillespies.co.uk)

 DETAILS:
http://worldlandscapearchitect.com/neo-bankside-london-uk-gillespies/#.UvVNpl5pU7A

"At NEO Bankside, Gillespies has designed a series of innovative green spaces that spearhead this movement. The completed designs take cues from natural woodlands and glades, and transpose them to the city. The layout contains large tracts of native plants set within groves of alder and birch trees, providing a ‘bank’ of flowers, seeds and nesting material that will encourage a range of wildlife to the space. Beehives have also been installed, enabling pollination of the plants and helping to safeguard this threatened species.
An orchard of fruiting trees and a herb garden give residents access to produce, encouraging active participation in the management of the gardens. The colour and fragrance of the herb garden adds to sensory delight of the garden areas.
Large forest trees shading cool lawns give residents peaceful spaces in which to withdraw from the world outside. With its diverse and rich range of planting, NEO Bankside’s outdoor spaces uplift the senses, and give residents an opportunity to rest, recreate and retreat from city life.”
We studied the mix and composition of each space carefully. We responded to the challenges created by the particular arrangement of the tall buildings in terms of wind, light and shade in order to ensure that the outdoor spaces have visual-interest throughout the year"

 

 

INTEREST IN A WOODLAND GARDEN