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A chic urban facial expression , especially for city garden , has been very much in vogue in the UK since the mid-1990s , when it was promoted by ( among others ) Dan Pearson and Stephen Woodhams . This design drift was a development of the functionalist , Modernist ideas of John Brookes , who come to prominence in the seventies with grid - pattern gardens that were emphatically contrive for mass and their leisure need , rather than for horticulture , which had previously been the British tradition . Rupert Brooke was influenced by California Modernists such as Thomas Church , but his work and that of his British followers has always been secernate by an bide interest in plants . This crossover between gardening and Modernism was a distinctive British compromise that actually work rather well . The flavour was given mass appeal in the late nineties and early 2000s by an upsurge of gardening “ makeover ” programs on British TV , promoting the delight of decking , barbecues , “ water feature , ” architectural flora in stainless - brand planters and cobalt - blue pots for decoration . There has been some recoil from the cognoscenti as a solvent , but the popularity of this advance when pull in at a high level has not diminished .
Bradley - Hole ’s take on a traditional walled garden , where a grid of steel - butt on path contains complex impulsion of grasses and perennials likeJoe Pye weedand persicaria . A style much influenced by the European New Wave movement , yet horticulturally richer . picture by : Andrew Lawson .
Originally trained as an architect , Christopher Bradley - Hole is a thorough - exit Modernist , place to the doctrines of functionalism , dissymmetry and architectural unity that that intention ideology espouses . The European New Wave planting movement has decisively affected his employment during the past X , but he comes from quite a unlike custom . Naturalistic plantings have always looked ripe up against the unruffled white or gray concrete of Modernist buildings , or butt the expansive cedar - forest decks intimate from the California Modernist custom of Thomas Church and others , but Bradley - Hole has gone much more profoundly into planting school of thought than any of his Modernist forebears or contemporary .
Bradley - Hole ’s style is wedded intimately to the clients ’ needs — whether or not they have kid , whether they are exquisite horticulturist , what times of daylight they wish to use the garden . For one London client with a young family , Bradley - Hole make the uncomplicated quad establish below , made up of trees display sculpturally against colored concrete walls , so that the children could play in the subject space at the center of the garden , while the adults could enjoy an elegant retreat for evening cocktail .
View of the gambol infinite with measure conduct down to a dining region . In this tiny space so much had to be resolved — a change of spirit level , different uses — but the answer is functional , colorful and supremely elegant . Photo by : Jerry Harpur .
It is Bradley - Hole ’s attention to point , both in planting and in hard materials , that is his key signature , a characteristic he ascribes to his Modernist background . A typical Bradley - Hole garden excogitation merge formalist severity with exuberant but carefully planned trend plantings of perennial and predominate weed such asStipa gigantea . At one recent garden in Sussex ( show on these pages ) , he has read this methodology to its ordered end in formalist terminus by create a childlike ( but large ) grid of planting squares , design each one separately yet permit for regular recurrence and echoes to build up between them . The result is a buff , moving sea of flora awash with gold , blues , purples and reds .
Bradley - Hole works principally for private clients and undertakes commissions on all scale , keep his practice comparatively small and un - incarnate , as is the way with most British garden designers . However , one of his newest projects is indisputably large - exfoliation and high - profile : the redesign of the surface area which had been the playing slant at the former Arsenal soccer stadium in Highbury , north London . Here he is transform the space into a communal park for residents of the fresh flat , subdivided informally into various garden “ suite ” organise on an abstract grid of hedge and shabu walls , many of which are also waterfall .
For more info on Christopher Bradley - Hole , seehttp://www.christopherbradley-hole.co.uk .
See moreEnglish garden thought .
See moreEnglish gardens .
