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A chic urban look , particularly for metropolis gardens , 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 trend was a development of the functionalist , Modernist ideas of John Brookes , who came to prominence in the 1970s with grid - pattern gardens that were definitely design for people and their leisure needs , rather than for horticulture , which had antecedently been the British custom . Brooke was regulate by California Modernists such as Thomas Church , but his work and that of his British followers has always been key by an abiding interest in plant . This crossover between gardening and Modernism was a typical British via media that actually worked rather well . The looking was give mass solicitation in the late 1990s and early 2000s by an surge of gardening “ makeover ” program on British TV , boost the delights of decking , barbecues , “ piddle features , ” architectural plants in untarnished - steel planters and cobalt - dismal pot for palm . There has been some backlash from the cognoscenti as a consequence , but the popularity of this approach when realized at a gamy spirit level has not diminished .
Bradley - Hole ’s take on a traditional walled garden , where a gridiron of steel - edge track contain complex drifts of skunk and perennials likeJoe Pye weedand persicaria . A elan much influenced by the European New Wave front , yet horticulturally richer . picture by : Andrew Lawson .
earlier trained as an designer , Christopher Bradley - Hole is a thorough - going Modernist , committed to the school of thought of functionalism , asymmetry and architectural unity that that design ideology espouses . The European New Wave planting crusade has resolutely bear upon his work during the past tenner , but he comes from quite a different tradition . Naturalistic planting have always looked respectable up against the liquid white or grizzly concrete of Modernist buildings , or abut the grand cedar - Natalie Wood decks intimate from the California Modernist custom of Thomas Church and others , but Bradley - Hole has endure much more deep into planting doctrine than any of his Modernist forebears or contemporaries .
Bradley - Hole ’s style is wedded intimately to the clients ’ need — whether or not they have children , whether they are keen horticulturists , what multiplication of Clarence Shepard Day Jr. they like to use the garden . For one London guest with a vernal house , Bradley - Hole make the simple space show below , made up of trees displayed sculpturally against colored concrete walls , so that the children could play in the open space at the center of the garden , while the grownup could enjoy an elegant hideaway for evening cocktails .
View of the gambol space with steps leading down to a dining area . In this diminutive space so much had to be resolved — a alteration of levels , dissimilar uses — but the root is functional , colourful and supremely elegant . Photo by : Jerry Harpur .
It is Bradley - Hole ’s attention to item , both in planting and in backbreaking material , that is his signature , a characteristic he ascribe to his Modernist scope . A typical Bradley - Hole garden intention unites formalist cogency with high-spirited but carefully planned movement planting of perennial and predominate grass such asStipa gigantea . At one recent garden in Sussex ( record on these pages ) , he has taken this methodology to its logical conclusion in formalist terms by creating a simple-minded ( but large ) grid of planting squares , design each one individually yet appropriate for rhythms and replication to develop between them . The result is a burnished , move sea of flora awash with amber , blue air , purples and reds .
Bradley - Hole works mainly for private clients and undertakes delegation on all ordered series , keeping his praxis comparatively small and un - embodied , as is the style with most British garden designers . However , one of his newest projects is indisputably big - shell and eminent - profile : the redesign of the area which had been the play lurch at the former Arsenal soccer stadium in Highbury , north London . Here he is transforming the space into a communal park for resident physician of the new apartments , subdivide colloquially into various garden “ rooms ” organized on an nonfigurative grid of hedges and field glass walls , many of which are also falls .
For more information on Christopher Bradley - Hole , seehttp://www.christopherbradley-hole.co.uk .
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