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Hugh O'Connell, APLD

Member Hugh O'Connell tells us how harmony and proportion were the driving factors in the creation of a 20th century Renaissance garden basilica.

The client required a formal garden to be created that would reflect the rounded top shape of the house's central feature window. Before the new garden was built, the four-storey house dominated the garden. The new design thus had to be stronger than the existing layout, which used a yew rectangle with a cross hedge. I decided to create a living basilica using the relationships stated by Vitruvius. The first main axis was defined by extending the centre line of the formal approach drive through the house.

The existing site conditions were generally good, but the land fell away in the area planned for the basilica. I felt that the new feature needed to be locked in strongly to the existing garden, rather than just added. I decided to create a strong central area at the junction of the major house axis and the cross axis, which keyed together the old and new formal areas. I did this by adding water features which would use the difference in level. Formal ponds on each level are joined by a rill flanked by steps.

The basilica width was set at 15 metres, thus allowing the upper pond to be outside and to allow the steps beside this pond and the rill between the ponds to mortise the two gardens together. This determined the basilica length at 30 metres, according to the proportions laid down by Vitruvius. The final length chosen for the basilica was determined by the overall effect of this feature on the garden as a whole - if it were too large, it would dominate the garden in the way that the house had done before. Set it too small, however, and the garden would be insignificant. Balance and harmony, rather than pure utility, were the determining factors for this garden layout.

The basilica was created by laying a tapestry hedge of Taxus and Thuja. The basilica was further defined through the use of a pleached hedge created from the lime Tilia platyphyllos rubra extending beyond the ends of the basilica. Within the basilica, this hedge would add height and would create the rounded arches that would further define the basilica. The inner dimensions of the basilica follow the Vitruvian proportions, with the nave area being defined by the centre line of the box edged beds that form a parterre. The width of the seating area, beds and outer walk are in the ratio 3:2:1. The lime pleached hedge is set on the inside edge of the tapestry hedge and thus forms the lower pillars of the nave of the basilica - the trunks forming the pillars and the underside of the pleached hedge forming the arches. The final height of the Tilia hedge will be 4.5 metres and that of the tapestry hedge 1.5 metres. To balance the whole, borders were added inside the main yew hedges and the theme was extended by rounding the end of the lawn. The brick edging of the lawn was formed out of specially chosen bricks that matched the colour of the house brickwork and thus formed an important element that continues the house into the garden. From the upper lawn, the walls beside the steps leading down into the basilica make a strong positive statement, deliberately drawing the eye forward and enhancing the formal nature of the garden.

The new garden has important features which pleased the client. Low maintenance box hedges were used to define the planting areas within the basilica. The plants in the long borders leading from the house to the basilica were chosen for plant shape, foliage and flower colour - and for the fact that they will be changed on a regular basis. For a formal garden shouldn't mean a static garden.

Hugh O'Connell is a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) and the Society of Garden Designers (MSGD). You can read more about Hugh's formal garden on his website www.ukgardendesigner.com which also has a free reader's forum for gardening advise.

 

 

 

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