Creative Connections
Aspects of the Garden Design Process
by Barbara Hunt and Elizabeth Whateley
Synopsis
Garden fashions continually evolve but an understanding of fundamental principles underlies all thoughtful design. This book will lead novice garden designers and other landscape professionals to the basic elements of garden space and to discover the interplay between them. The book originated in a workshop called 'Giving Your Garden Style' and reflects the authors' originality and wide experience. It is packed with line drawings, informal sketches and sections of actual garden plans. Colour photographs – many of which are linked to plans within the text – all help to enhance the principles, problems and solutions discussed in the text. With such information in front of them, readers will be encouraged to look, think and analyse before taking up pencil, computer mouse or spade. It is confidently expected that this book will be required reading for all those beginning a career in garden design or construction. Keen gardeners will also benefit from the explanations of design principles.
Organization of a space [the authors say] is fundamental, and there are basic principles which, once successfully connected in the underlying structure of a design, will make it work as a whole rather than as a set of individually pleasing, but not necessarily cohesive, details … [The book} is more of a workhorse than a coffee table book, but a proper read of it renders its lack of glamour irrelevant. The photographs may be small and lacking a little ‘gloss’ but they do an extremely good job of illustrating points made in the text. And they are backed up by the best use of plans and sketches I think I have ever seen. Sometimes a sketch and/or a plan appear next to a photo of the same garden once it is completed and mature – a ‘start to finish’ approach that is surprisingly unusual in design books.
Sarah Giles in the Garden Design Journal
Contents
Introduction; Consulting the genius of the place; Proportion and balance; Routes and direction; Rhythm and repetition; Geometry and line; Contrast; Mood; Conclusion; References and further reading; Index.
About the Author
Barbara Hunt is widely known for her innovative garden designs and for many prizewinning show gardens at Hampton Court where, remarkably, she won The Tudor Rose award for the Best in Show Garden in 1992, 1993 and 1994. Her most recent prestigious design is The Golden Jubilee Garden at the Savill Garden in Windsor Great Park in 2002. Barbara first studied Interior and Three-dimensional Design at Kingston College of Art, Kingston-upon-Thames, and after graduation worked in exhibition design for five years. After a career break to start a family, she began to design gardens in 1980. Barbara is a Registered Member of the Society of Garden Designers (MSGD) and a Member of the Institute of Horticulture. She was a visiting tutor at the Inchbald School of Design, London, from 1993 to 1998, and continues to design gardens for both private and public clients.
Elizabeth Whateley trained as a teacher and taught needlework and dress-making in comprehensive schools for many years, until those subjects were removed from the curriculum. During her time as a teacher, and while bringing up three children, she developed an interest in garden design and attended several weekend and evening courses on the subject. After taking early retirement from teaching, she enrolled on John Brookes's intensive garden design course at Denmans, West Sussex, and set up as a freelance garden designer. In 1991 Elizabeth became a Registered Member of the Society of Garden Designers (MSGD) and served on the Society's Adjudication Panel for five years and its Council for three years. She has designed a wide variety of gardens in south-east England and specializes in putting plans out to tender and overseeing landscape contractors' work in larger gardens.
Date of Publication: 22 December 2008.
ISBN: 978 1 85341 131 0 (paperback only)
Pages: 124, including 124 colour photos and 119 black & white line drawings, plans and sketches.
Dimensions: 190 x 245 mm (landscape); weight: 387 g
Price: £19.99. A special price for students, SGD and GLDA members is available at £17.00 incl. postage & packing only when ordered direct from the publisher.
Distribution
This book is stocked by specialist bookshops only, such as the RHS Book and Gift Shops at Wisley, Surrey, and Harlow Carr, Yorkshire. It is available in North America from Stipes Publishing LLC, 204 W. University Avenue, Champaign, Illinois 61820, USA (or PO Box 526, Champaign, IL 61824-0526). Tel: 001 217 356 8391. E-mail: stipes01@sbcglobal.net