Wednesday, August 17, 2011

DIY SOS: The Big Build - Dartford

Creating a special garden for a very special family

Background:

The BBC approached me back in February asking if I would like to be involved in an episode of DIY SOS and design a sensory garden for a small family made up of Mum Louise and her 10 year old son Thomas who has autism. Dead lines were tight and budgets were even tighter but the challenge was very appealing so I agreed to get involved.

Design brief:

I met with Louise and Thomas to get to know them and to establish a client brief and I spent time in the garden to measure up and to carefully consider the potential as well as the limitations of the garden. The garden was approximately 230 metre square, with neighbouring gardens on each side and backing on to the M25 Dartford crossing. The constant noise of traffic was very apparent. The garden included a beautiful mature birch tree and a handful of mature shrubs to work with. Everything else was in very poor condition and needed to come out. Paving slabs could be recycled to cut costs and there were railway sleepers as well as large pebbles and garden ornaments which could be incorporated into the new design. Thomas also had a wide range of collected items such as traffic cones and road signs arranged in his part of the garden, which would be saved and become part of the new design. What was important for the new garden was that Thomas had a clearly defined space in the garden that was his, a space where he felt safe and could be used as a time out space, and that also Louise had a space for more grown up activities. When asked how they would like to feel in the garden Louise said she wants to feel relaxed whilst Thomas said he wants to have fun.

Design statement:

I started by allocating space to create two separate areas in the garden; one for Thomas and one for Louise. Thomas's space lent itself to be further away from the building, close to the natural elements in the garden, such as the mature birch tree, whilst Louise's space was better suited to be nearer to the house with easy access for outdoor dining. The two spaces then needed to be linked by a hard surface material to allow Thomas to comfortably reach his area of the garden all through the year, bare feet if he wished!

Sources of inspiration and ideas

Inspired by the road and working with a traffic theme, I created a straight boardwalk lined with small LED lights to create what appeared to be a run way, allowing Thomas to take off and land in his own very special place. I worked on the diagonal, with a 30 degree angle to maximise the space and to create a straight visual line from the house down to Thomas's shed. The shed was important to be big enough to allow Thomas to grow as well as store the many things he collects. Knowing that Thomas loves portacabins and similar industrial looking items I was on the look out for a shed with a large port hole window. A barrier was needed between the two areas, however, I wanted to make sure that Thomas did not feel trapped by the barrier so we lined the fence with a green barked dog wood hedge, Cornus stolonifera Flaviramea. This hedge will eventually merge with the fence and in the winter will display very attractive bright green upright stems.

Initially I incorporated into the design a wealth of opportunities for physical activity by including a traverse climbing wall, balancing blocks and a sunken trampoline. However, due to budget restrictions some of these had to be omitted. Interactive features are important to include in a sensory garden so I incorporated some loose items that Thomas could move, stack and arrange as he wished. I found out that Thomas loves traffic lights so we worked hard to source working traffic lights that could be fitted in Thomas's shed. I was also keen to include an outdoor traffic light which Thomas could use to signal when he wanted to be alone (red) and when it was ok for someone to enter his space (green). Unfortunately we were not able to source these but the internal traffic lights worked really well and continued the interactive theme.

Water is an essential element in both sensory and healing gardens as it can stimulate so many of our senses so I felt strongly that we needed to incorporate a low maintenance water feature into this garden. Having a good working relationship with a water specialist company called Ebb & Flow who make amazing water features that centre around the rhythmical movement of water, they were my
first choice. Warren from Ebb & Flow kindly came along to install one of their individually sculptured pieces, the mesmerizing Iona.

First version of garden design


View from house


View from Thomas's space


Garden in the evening with lights

Budget:

The budget for the garden turned out to be approximately 10% of what the original design would have cost. With free labour and many kind donations we were able to do the job within budget although there had been many cut-backs. Because I was working with a very clear design concept, knowing what needs to accommodate for, we were able to cut back without compromising the original design concept. Without the efforts of Ricky and his team from Carrick Landscapes the garden would never have been built, they were amazing and so generous giving up their time.

It was an amazing experience working with the DIY SOS team, both the team behind the camera as well as those in front of the camera. Everyone was so helpful, welcoming as well as hard working and when the project was finished I had mixed emotions feeling both satisfied but also sad to see the end of such a wonderful experience. What was particularly rewarding with this project was the great team spirit and the speed at which the build took; each day huge progress was made and the garden took shape literally in front of my eyes.

With the team

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