Structured informality - design for health and well-being

At a function last night I was asked about which commission I was most proud of. In the 20 years of designing gardens and interiors, I'd never been asked that before. I gave it some thought and decided to tell her about a school grounds design I'd done. It is my favourite.

It was a completely derelict part of the grounds, a small area just 7m x 20m, but which was immediately adjacent to classrooms and the main playground. It had potential.

As someone who lives a fairly informal, while structured, lifestyle, I appreciate opportunities to relax, and like to design them into my plans. My school grounds needed seating. In fact 6 different types were incorporated into the space.

Knowing the boundaries in life is important, so I like to design spaces that flow easily to each other yet are distinct. Borders, hedges, screens, changes in ground surfacing & changes in level all combine to delineate areas. Knowing how to break the boundaries is also important so spaces are flexible, enabling one are to 'become' another.

The particular garden I was describing was terraced, both to provide interest and make the slight slope more usable. It was further sub-divided by an emergency access path which runs down on side. To one side of the path I built raised bed vegetable gardens, to the other side grassed play and study space.

The whole space sensory garden is accessed through a living willow tunnel, which opens into a lawn with story telling seat set into a shrub and herbaceous border. Beyond the story telling area is a casual wildlife area with bird feeders, hedgehog house, log piles and a bat box, a table to work at and another living willow structure - this time a dome.

Step up to the top level onto bark chippings and a outdoor theatre with natural log seating. Evergreen and fruiting vines and espaliered apples grow over the outdoor classroom structure. Completing the sensory space is a magnificent view out over the valley, enhanced by carefully trimmed trees.

The whole space is enjoyed by the school, and by the community when they are welcomed in to outdoor theratre and musical performances. Abundant, bio-diverse planting has brought an increased variety and increased umbers of birds into the area. Insect life is healthy as the school composts food scraps and add them once ready as mulch. The mulch helps keep weeds down and importantly, retains moisture so over hot summer holidays, as we are experiencing now,  the plants survive on their own.

The garden has been in a couple of years now and is really starting to mature.

looking back through the living willow archway to the newly painted sustainable play house

the story telling seat, fish pond in a barrel and bird feeder

fan trained fruit trees allow big fruit in small spaces

Doing it the Barak way. PR and marketing for the planet

I just read an artcile about how everyone wants to (know how to) do it like Barak did.

The haiku like mantra of his methodology : Be Cool, Be Social, Be the Change works for me.

Being cool .The tough part of 'doing the Obama thing' , for me at least, is staying unflappable and undistracted. My work with sustainable sensory garden design (see www.greenstonedesign.co.uk) may not seem like world changing stuff, but in a way it is. It's my way of showing the world (or a small part of it) another way of looking at themselves and our planet. It's PR for the planet.

Being social comes more easily. It's all about connections. Re-connecting with the natural world builds understanding and respect. When we respect our environment and everything connected with it, it follows that we will respect our neighbors as they are intrinsically linked with us too. If people respect you, know you, like you, they will trust you and buy from you.

Being the change is what I've done almost unconsciously for years. I've stuck my neck out and been 'different' when it was unfashionable to do so. My family and friends are made up of scientists and artists with an audience and even a following, doing their rather glitzy bit to make the world a better place. I eschewed all that to go back to basics, to teach children and adults to value our world, show people through creative design in their own space, through field trips to other inspiring spaces, to get people to value what is so easily taken for granted. My marketing plan for the planet has specific areas of focus but is essentially broad-brush.

Many people have recently commented that right now feels like towards the end of the Roman Empire. It may or may not be true but take heed: during the Dark Ages that followed the end of the Empire, some people prospered. They were the ones with the knowledge and ability to grow their own food, live with the land rather than on it. As we've seen in Zimbabwe, it takes very little time to strip a nation of its intellectuals and plunge towards anarchy. By reconnecting with the Earth we could all do ourselves a favor, whether we're in big business or small, agriculture or architecture, PR or marketing. It's not about 'going green' but about being the change.

Growing vegetables in small and unusual spaces

Home vegetable growing will become increasingly important in the future.

Knowing how to design (and grow) an attractive vegetable garden in limited space will be a challenge for many people. I'm going to run a course locally on how to do exactly that. If you think you may be interested, please get in touch, either by posting here, or by sending me an email through the website http://www.houseandgardendesign.co.uk.

If lots of people are interested who don't live anywhere near here I might be tempted to develop something that could be run online.

Those who have knowledge will prosper.

More soon!

Gayle

Natural light and fresh air - #1 design requirements for a healthy lifestyle

"This provides both security and light and air to every room in the house".

The key points here are natural light and fresh air.

Offices and factories, schools and shops need to provide natural light for their workers, as well as their customers. Fresh air is as easy as opening windows (Diseases such as Legionnaires are avoided, as well as the cost to the environment and the consumer of the electricity required to run the airconditioning too)

Transition Towns - a positive response to peak oil & climate change

As Peak Oil hits, that is, when extraction no longer meets demand and the price goes even higher, transport costs will rise. Everything we currently buy that is transported to the shop will cost outrageous amounts of money. The energy we use today is largely oil and gas based.

Producing our own energy is already easy - solar heating and wind generation technology are readily available. It is possible to be self sufficient in energy and save on those horrendous power and gas bills.

As climate change increasingly affects soils, crops and livestock, we will need to adapt what we eat to suit the changing situation.

Growing our own fruit and vegetables is one simple solution. Some trial and error will be required to learn what grows best in your area. Knowing how to preserve food to eat out of season will mean we will not be reliant on expensive-to-run freezers or constant trips to the supermarket.

Locally produced food will make life cheaper, simpler, better. Locally produced energy will mean less wastage down transmission lines

Gayle Souter-Brown's design theory

As the credit crunch deepens, the need for our homes to be restorative retreats from the world becomes stronger. Sensitive Interior Design that integrates into the होम'sGarden Design will give best results.