We were very inspired by them in terms of materials and the way that the buildings co-exist, as well as by the way people move through these ancient towns.
We started by visiting lots of Chinese gardens and Chinese heritage towns. We designed the streetscape, all of the public realm, and the individual gardens for all the villas, as well as the public park.
SYNERGY EQUIPMENT FOREST PARK GEORGIA SERIES
This embeds the original merchants’ villas, and also a series of new villas they’ve designed, into the space. I worked closely with the architects, Kerry Hill, who’ve done an amazing job of creating the masterplan for the site. Mr Ma teamed up with Aman Resorts together they created this extraordinary 25-acre resort development with a park, which we also designed, and a lake separating the development from the park, so the park becomes the backdrop and the green lung of the project. Mr Ma managed to do a deal with the government to earmark a site in Shanghai and then dismantle these buildings and transport them and the camphor trees to that site. His village, which is 700 miles from Shanghai, was being flooded by a dam, and with it forests of 1,000-year-old camphor trees and 18th century merchants’ villas. The story started with our client, Mr Ma. You’re working on Aman’s Amanyangyun resort in Shanghai, which involved relocating an ancient forest and dwellings. We’ve got plants that are considered to be auspicious in China and that have their own story.Įverything has its own little message, that can be drawn out. We’ve got a fig called afghanistanica, with these wonderful, finely-cut leaves – figs were some of the first things that the Crusaders brought back to the UK. We’ve got horsetails, for instance, which are equisetums – prehistoric plants found in fossils – growing in there. We wanted to create a garden in which every plant had something noteworthy about it. How did you choose what to plant in the museum? It has a slightly exotic feel to it a feeling of having travelled from somewhere else, because Tradescant went out into the world and brought plants back that people would have never seen or known about. It’s been designed to feel like a garden of curiosities. Tradescant really inspired the way that we put the plant collection together. The new extension surrounds a beautiful courtyard, with the tomb of the great plant collector John Tradescant in the centre. It’s not just going to be a place for the garden community it’s really become a proper destination. It’s 100 per cent better as an experience now. They’ve created spaces that draw you from the inside to the outside in a very natural way. The new extension and the interventions inside the building feel effortless and elegant. The architects have done a remarkable job of turning a heavy building into a place that has life and light. What do you think of Dow Jones Architects’ redevelopment? The Garden Museum recently reopened in Lambeth, London.
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