End of the Year Exhibition

In June we had our end of the year exhibition with more than 200 people visiting.
This years course had 16 students with all different backgrounds and nationalities. It was so interesting to see how we all interpreted the same tasks in a different way and how much each of us established an own style already.

The exhibition showed part of our sales portfolio that we can use after finishing this course for our own business. An external examiner came to judge the quality of the work which displayed a selection of all the work completed through the year: design exercises, 3 real gardens and their design including architectural and construction drawings in CAD, perspective and rendered drawings, planting plans, specifications, photography, history timeline and moodboards.

Project 1 was a tiny Oxford Courtyard Garden of a house build in the 1980's with first floor balcony, no existing link into the garden which made all of us decide to introduce a staircase that would make it easy to access the garden from the kitchen and living room.

Project 2 was a small 500square meter country garden in Oxfordshire requiring a new garage, workshop, conservatory and kitchen garden.

Project 3 was a 2.5 acre country garden in Oxfordshire with existing jacuzzi, party house and tennis court. The client requested a conservatory as well as a lake. It was a big challenge to achieve a nice and smooth link between house, jacuzzi and tennis court but I am very proud about my design (which the external examiner also pointed out :-) ) My nicest compliment was : "John Brooks would be proud of you." What else do I need?!

This link leads you to a video made by Duncan Heather, principle of the Oxford College of Garden Design:

http://vimeo.com/13062759

A big thank you to all my class mates for all their support during this fantastic year in Oxford! It was great studying with you and I enjoyed the time a lot.
Also thanks to all our teachers, guest lecturers and supporters (Garden Design Guru Duncan Heather, Vice Principal Sally Court, Garden Designer Amanda Macrae, Architect Michael Reed, Vectorworks Lady Tamsin Slatter, Famous Garden Designer John Brookes, Horticulture Expert Chris Marchant and Orchard Dene Nurseries, Architect and Construction Expert John Heather, Artist Jo Chance, History Expert Alistair McVean, Main Organiser and Powerlady in the back Carol Heather) who made the impossible possible ;-)) to change a sport scientist into a garden designer ;-).

Go green and be environmentally responsible- how aware are you?

Last weeks topic of Duncan Heather "Are you an environmentally responsible designer" made me think. How many resources of nature do we use each day without a need? We as designers are responsible as we have it in our hands, what we plan and what sort of materials we use. (e.g. wood by Paul Ridley) And WE are working with nature, we want to make landscapes to look more interesting, more beautiful and worth living in them.

Isn't our whole life a life in luxury and mostly on the costs of other people and our environment? And if it is not our close environment, it is the environment of others, far away.

How many products do you buy each day that are manufactured somewhere else? It starts with food and ends with cars. Why do you buy apples from New Zealand? Why strawberries in winter from South Africa? Think healthy, be more healthy! Eat the seasons! Eat organic! Because you are what you eat. And you can afford it- just think about how much food you throw away every day, if you spend a bit more, you will be more aware and careful- I bet!

The fashion and shoe industry is big, hey ladies- how full is your wardrobe? A man once asked me- do you need all this? He is right! I don't! What do you really need?
Whatever we buy, it is mostly produced in the far east. If you buy something really cheap, it doesn't matter if a piece of cheese for 1 EUR or a T-Shirt for 5 EUR...do you think it is made with care and love?

Lu Guang, a photographer from People’s Republic of China made a documentary “Pollution in China".
Have a look, it might change your way of thinking, buying and spending.

Guiyu, Guangdong province,  rivers and reservoirs have been contaminated, a woman is washing in a seriously polluted pond. 

Shanxi Province is the most polluted area of China and shows the highest rate of birth defects. 

“In Some areas of China people’s lives were threatened because of the environmental pollution. Residents suffering from all kinds of obscured diseases, the cancer villages, increase of deformed babies, these were the results of sacrificing environment and blindly seeking economical gain.”
(Lu Guang)

Just live your life with a little bit more awareness and think twice sometimes!

Whatever you do, do it with love and passion, without hurting anyone- people, animals, nature.

IGPOTY International Garden photographer of the Year Award

As our principle Duncan Heather pushed us to join this competition I entered yesterday,  3hours before final ;-) We will see, you never know...

You can see the competitor pictures on the IGPOTY website.

First week of Post-Graduate Diploma Course in Garden Design

I am currently studying Residential Landscape Design at the Oxford Brookes University - Oxford College of Garden Design, which is regarded as one of the top contemporary garden design courses in the world.

We worked so far on "Geometry of Shape". The best outcome of this first week is:

- nasty corners in paving create dead space and are the weakest point of any design
- wiggly lines do not look natural, nature (planting) can make it far better than we do

You don't have a wiggly carpet in your living room, do you? So why in the garden? ;-))
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Ich studiere derzeitig Landschaftsarchitektur und Garten Design an der Brookes Universität in Oxford- Oxford College of Garden Design.
Dieser Diplomstudiengang wird als einer der besten modernen Gartendesignkurse der Welt angesehen und ist aufgrund der Intensität, des hochqualifizierten Lehrpersonals und der geringen Studentenzahl sehr zu empfehlen.

Diese Woche haben wir am Thema " Geometrie der Formen" gearbeitet, hier die beiden wichtigsten Erkenntnisse:

- spitze Ecken von geflasterten Bereichen kreieren toten Raum und sind Grundlage für ein schwaches Design
- wacklige und kurvige Linien sehen nicht natürlich aus, die Natur (Bepflanzung) ist dazu viel besser in der Lage

Hast Du einen kurvigen Teppich im Wohnzimmer liegen? Nein? Warum dann im Garten? ;-))