LANDSCAPE CONSTRUCTION
Before working at CAT I was a partner in a small landscape construction business. When I arrived at CAT, although there were already gardeners on the staff, none were particularly interested in the design aspect of horticulture, or the potential of landscape work to embody and communicate environmental messages.
After a few demonstrations I persuaded my new colleagues that creative but functional landscaping was a cost-effective way of delivering a whole raft of sought-for outcomes. We even ran courses on Ecological Landscaping.
After a short while I realised I was working from an implicit set of principles that amounted to what Christopher Alexander famously called a 'Pattern Language'. I tried to write these principles down:
A Landscape Pattern Language (doc) 2001
There were many problems to solve, perhaps some of them impossible, but we always gave it a go, and tried to apply the Principles, for example
Planting Up the Railway (doc)
Landscaping at CAT was fun: on an old slate tip there was an infinite quantity of raw material just lying about. Here are some of my adventures:
When I worked at CAT, I had a 40-acre slate tip to explore, and was able to watch a rare example of ecological succession unfolding in front of my eyes. Eventually I thought to try and log all this growing plant diversity, for example
Plants on the Llwyngwern site 2005
I also enjoyed little experiments:
More recently, I completed a draft plan for a new Insect-friendly garden in St Albans, jointly with my colleague Professor Stuart Reynolds. This was submitted as part of a competition, which we won:
I always enjoyed stonework, it’s bit like lego, but with non-standard blocks. An old slate quarry offered many opportunities. This is the pool that drives the water-balanced cliff railway, before being filled. The feed water for the railway runs from the lake (which I also built) through the dark hole on the right, then to the railway through a grille set in the angled arch. The ‘steps’ are simply to help people get out if they fall in!