LAND6000 NEGOTIATED STUDIES ELLERSLIE INTERNATIONAL FLOWER SHOW BY PATRICIA MORRISON
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‘UP ON THE ROOF’ THE FIRST EXHIBIT PROCESS, ‘UP ON THE ROOF’... 8 OUR BREIF 9 TIMELINE OF THE BUILDING PROCESS 10 & 11 PUBLICITY 12 THE PROCESS 2014 WHY DID I CHOOSE MY THEME? HOW I DID THE DESIGN? MY BREIF CONCEPT PLAN
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GIARDINO SEGRETO THE PROCESS I WENT THROUGH... 21 TIMELINE OF THE BUILDING PROCESS... 22 & 23 FINAL PLAN 24 CROSS SECTION 25 PUBLICITY 27 CONCLUSION
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International garden shows around the world are temporary gardens and displays that people in the landscape industry get involved in. Providing a space where they can show case themselves, their talents and what they can create and build. These garden shows such as the Chelsea Flower Show allow people of all ages in the industry to show off their techniques while accommodating the public and each other with inspirational ideas and moves that could be portrayed in their own garden. This portfolio covers the background of major garden shows and the processes and outcomes of my own two award winning displays at the Ellerslie International Flower Show 2013 and 2014.
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND GARDEN SHOWS 5 ELLERSLIE INTERNATIONAL FLOWER SHOW 6
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION 3
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CHELSEA INTERNATIONAL FLOWER SHOW Run by the RHS this prestigious and longest running horticulture society. This show is all about new diverse plant’s and flowers on show in their best possible way. Nurserys and designers combining together to showcase horticulture not yet released to the public, along with the flamboyance and flavour of the designer.
MASSACHUSETTS GARDEN
Designed by: Susannah Hunter with Catherine MacDonald
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BACKGROUND
JAPANESE INTERNATIONAL FLOWER SHOW Ikebana- meaning the Japanese art of flower arrangement, it is a simple style that is designed to show the beauty and uniqueness of the plant itself. This sums up the show by the simplicity of a landscape, designed combining architecture, natural forms and water reflecting the scenery to create a calm and peaceful horticulture sence of unity. Connecting the ancient form architecture and horticulture to its simplest form.
BACKGROUND
GARDEN SHOWS
GARDEN FOR WORLD PEACE
Designed by: Xanthe White MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FLOWER SHOW This relatively young show that is only 19 years old, held at the world Heritage site of Carlton gardens, it is rated among the top 5 garden shows in the world. For such a young show this is quite an achievement. This show is all about using plants in their own environment and conditions as well as being environmentally aware of the process and procedures to create an easy friendly and beautifully working garden. Usually focusing on drought tolerant horticulture awareness to educate the public. A user friendly low maintenance design is key to the busy lifestyle of the outdoor going country its held in. Once again combining new fresh environmentally awareness architecture with easy planting styles that look after themselves to create its own landscape.
THE WAVE
Designed by: Paal Grant (Paal Grant Designs in Landscaping)
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EXHIBITION GARDENS Ben Hoyle’s Gold Medal garden, ‘A French Kiss in Akaroa’ exhibition garden
EMERGING DESIGNERS Three of the Emerging design gardens. Myself and Serenas on the left and a class of CPIT students middle and right.
FLORAL ART Annika Horgan won Gold with her entry in the floral art section at Ellerslie International Flower Show.
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‘UP ON THE ROOF’
Since its inclusion in 1994, around about the same time as the Melboune flower show kicked off, the Southern Hemisphere has been providing inavative environmentally conscious design that has put us on the map as a leading force in the horticultural and design industry. The show is quite diverse and with plenty on display for all the publics age groups. The show gives all the horticultural and design incline to participate in such a renown international flower show. This includes exhibition gardens, emerging designers, floral art among many more things for the public to ore at and take home and incorporate into there own gardens / homes and lifestyles. The show creates a festival style atmosphere with entertainment around every corner to satisfy even the most staunch gardening fan. But the show is all about fresh ideas along with inavative design from both the trained landscape architect, current studying landscape architects, floral design students and the freelance garden and landscape designers. The gardens are generally all very different with all types of messages and themes. And once the judging is complete the public have there own views on the judging, and understand what the criteria is that is needed for for the award has been given out.
BACKGROUND
ELLERSLIE INTERNATIONAL FLOWER SHOW
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The year of 2012 at Unitec located in Mt Albert, Auckland is where my friend Serena Collins and I studied our final year in a course, the Diploma in Landscape design. We had been given a project individually and to the rest of the class to pick a material and to create a outdoor sculpture or outdoor furniture piece which then would be placed at the Queens wharf in Auckland City or a 4.8m x 4.8m roof top garden for a mid 30s couple living in the heart of Christchurch City. The brief for the emerging design category at Ellerslie International Flower show in early March 2013 was to design a roof top garden for a mid 30s couple living in the heart of Christchurch City with or without children. This had to be an entertainment space. This is also the part of the brief that Unitec chose to give to students to portray their outdoor feature in with the opportunity of attending the show if accepted. The roof top garden was more appealing to me and more appropriate for my features I had designed which then gave me the opportunity to apply for the show where I could show case my design and putting the design into practice. An application for the Ellerslie show was filled and accepted. Using my features and a bonding design strategy with Serena gave us a spot at the show in the emerging design category. Thinking the worst part was over; the distance and whole build up process made us realize this was only the beginning… The statistical problem of getting to Christchurch for the show from Auckland was the biggest challenge, as we had never done anything like this before. We decided that building our featured pieces such as the wall, pots and sourcing hard materials in Auckland would be the best alternative as we had some contacts and Serena’s back yard to build. Ellerslie offers $3000 for each exhibit in the emerging design category. As we had the distance to deal with, $3000 was a tight budget for us. Getting sponsorship and discounted deals was at the top of the list; this is a process that all exhibitors in shows go through. We got discounts on our main materials such as timber, chicken mesh, gabion mesh, perspex, foam spraying and all the bits and pieces that helped to create and fix our features into their shapes. As the show allows alternative materials to show case a feature as big and expensive as ours, we chose foam spray to be the replica of clay as it is light an more cost effective.
Where it all started... This is one of the pages out of three from my materiality project. It shows my material I chose and the outdoor sculpture like features along side the process of making them. The wall I designed came later on in the development stages of this project.
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‘Up on the Roof’ is a north facing roof top apartment garden in the heart of Christchurch, with fabulous city views. It takes you into a space with New Zealand native plants, warmth and organic materials strongly related to our country. The door way out to the garden leads you out into a spacious area created for entertainment for a late 20s couple who are always looking for new and unique ideas. Materials such as clay are our main focus with a feature wall and planter pots we have designed. The wall in the day time on the eastern side would store the heat and release it as the sun sets in the west at night time, creating warmth to the people that surround. Our overhead feature is covered in climbers and fairy lights which imitate the sky and city light views. Re-using materials is really important to us. We use recyclables such as polyurethane, timber framing, hand woven pockets and macrocarpa which also gives the design textural detail.
The next challenge was getting all these features delivered to Christchurch. As we organized the truck too late and didn’t realize how expensive the truck would be, former lecturer Penny Cliffin managed to get approval from Unitec for the $3000 cost of the delivery. From the date of our arrival to Chirstchurch, we were hoping for the truck to arrive 2 days later. Set backs occurred in Auckland with getting everything onto a decent sized truck and the communication between the truck driver and us was very poor, causing the truck to arrive 4 days after us which set us back in time and caused us stress to finish the garden in time with only 5 days to complete. The build up by mainly Serena and I was completed, judging was over and media and publicity experienced, the break down seemed easier than thought. Selling materials to the public and on-site builders help with dismantling and disposal of left over hard materials, we left the show with happy faces and a bronze medal in our hands.
Green roofs welcome back nature and inspire society to use the space we have on our roofs to create a green landscape amongst the hard roofscapes of our cities. Using green roofs to our advantage and introducing nature gives us an oasis of peace and light in our chaotic lives, as well as a space to party in!
‘UP ON THE ROOF’
OUR BREIF
‘UP ON THE ROOF’
THE FIRST EXHIBIT PROCESS, ‘UP ON THE ROOF’...
Using solar lighting around the garden, and Waimakariri river pebbles for our industrial style gabions uses natural resources, something we aimed for within our design.
Recieving the award... This is a photo taken from a video of us recieving the award. Our first media experiance.
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Wall construction was achieved and stood up- the wall gave a realistic scale physically and visually.
Timber, ply and mdf was sourced and used to build the “clay” wall.
Arriving onsite and directed to the emerging design category. Empty exhibit space of 4.8mx4.8m to be filled within 7days
The only hard material sourced in Chch, the tiles, were the only thing that could be placed while waiting for Auckland truck delivery.
START
Model made for a clearer visual spatial understanding of the exhibit which later on followed by alterations.
Once achieving making the planter pots we then had to cover them in tin foil to have them ready for the foam spraying.
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Macrocarpa sourced was cut and sanded then polished for the bar table.
The pots were then very carefully foam sprayed in coil strips.
Walking through the Christchurch botanical garden and coming across this sculpture which was then applied to the exhibit.
Sourced timber was pre-cut in Auckland to the dimensions of the L shaped garden bed.
Cable tying chicken mesh in cylinder shapes for the planter pots.
The wall and pots were delivered to the Foam Company and then foam sprayed in coil strips for a rolled out clay look.
Set backs in Auckland delayed the delivery by 2days setting us back with time. Happy faces once arrived in the evening.
Once the wall was fixed into place, the garden bed was then fixed and the application of the black paint on the walls proceeded.
Thin wire was connected from one wall to the other and then the tecomanthe vine weaved across it.
The morning of judging, prestining the plants and removing unwanted materials.
Only having a couple days of friends dads help, the main heavy hard materials were fixed in place.
8 hours was spent on the painting of the “clay” wall and planter pots, as the gaps in the foam were hard to get to and wanted a nice finish.
Once sprayed then gently cut to separate the two parts of the wall.
Safety plastic removed off perspecs and cleanfinished exhibit revealed. Ready for judging!
AUCKLAND
CHRISTCHURCH
This is the final look of the planter pots after foam spraying.
Once sprayed then gently cut to separate the two parts of the wall.
Gabion mesh was cable tyed into 800mm high rectangular shapes for the creation of our gabion bar stools.
‘UP ON THE ROOF’
Penny Cliffin, a lecturer in the Diploma course offered help with the transportation of these structures to and from foam company.
We visited Christchurch for the nursaries and plant selections. While there we visited the museum for more Chch inspiration ideas.
The day of award distribution, premiere garden party and media.
After the day of recieving awards and the garden party the show is open for 5days for the public to enjoy.
FINISH
TIMELINE OF THE BUILDING PROCESS...
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First newspaper article... I had contacted a reporter in the Auckland City Harbour newspaper as we had 1 week until the materials had to be on site at Hagley Park, Christchurch and our budget did not meet the cost of the delivery and hadn’t managed to get sponsorship.
Media... Different reporters of magazines, newspapers and tv show’s wondered the grounds of where all the exhibitions were located on the day of award distribution. In their decision to interview and film exhibitors. We were gratefully lucky to be interviewed by the Country 99 chanel along side other magazine reporters.
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Our brochure... This is our brochure we decided to produce and hand out to the public as it is a good way to promote ourselves.
‘UP ON THE ROOF’
or email us to kiwiscapes@gmail.com
‘UP ON THE ROOF’
PUBLICITY
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‘UP ON THE ROOF’
THE PROCESS 2014
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IMAGE
Client A mid 30’s couple who may or may not have children that have recently migrated to New Zealand. Background New Zealand has become an increasingly popular destination for migrants; it has a wonderful fusion of many nationalities. You are designing a garden for a couple that has recently moved to the country. They love New Zealand but would still like to have an influence or a reflection of their home country in their new garden.
ELLERSLIE THEME Using Ellerslie’s theme and interpreting it to our own.
IMAGE
Project Design and build a garden that reflects their country of origin providing an influence of international design. EIFS Description Competitors in this category should work to the above Client Brief, incorporating strong design elements. In response to Ellerslie’s brief, naturally my thoughts on my own theme in collaboration with theirs would be an international approach. I am originally from Europe and I have always been fascinated with Italian renaissance gardens so I started focusing on that part of the world. The large scale, symmetrical and romantic approach of Italian gardens is very interesting for me as I personally also have a symmetrical style of my own.
HAMPTON COURT PALACE Exploring examples of Italian sunken gardens. This is a sunken garden with medieval and Renaissance influences. Photo by Michal “Cronwood” Babilas.
HOW I DID THE DESIGN?
Discovering the words Giardino segreto and understanding the meaning of it guided me through the design process. Considering we didn’t incorporate a water feature in our first exhibit I really wanted to take on a challenge of included one in this exhibit in a symmetrical style structure, as its also a important Italian garden feature. The water feature was officially going to be my WOW FACTOR. I logically placed it in the middle of the back wall, as it would be the centre of attention and an eye-catcher for the public. I designed two troughs one lower than the other, also placing a slot half way up the wall allowing the water to cascade down into one trough to the other. I then worked around it, taking into consideration the space I have to work with and a decent amount of horticulture needed. The definition of ‘secret garden’ automatically gave me the idea of a hidden and sunken below ground level garden. The rule of Ellerslie is that you are unable to dig into the ground unless it is 400mm diameter pits for posts. I decided to build my levels above the ground, creating steps, which rose up entering from the outside of the garden down into it giving that ‘sunken’ feeling. I naturally placed the steps in the middle with the water feature directly ahead of it. I wanted to have quite a bit of space in the middle of the garden so I connected the water feature with the steps with the use of garden beds, drawing the garden beds around the edges which then perfectly gave me that opportunity to plant at the front of the exhibit with plants giving that hidden effect into the garden, allowing the water feature to be the one pulling your eye into the garden. It made sense to place seating left and right in front of the parallel garden beds as you can sit there with your partner enjoying the privacy and smells of the plants, which tie in with the intimate, peaceful and harmonic theme. My main Italian plant choices were conifers to give the garden height, lavender for the fragrance and vines that bleed over the edges of the walls giving a softer touch. The colour of off white was chosen for the walls and all the hard materials as it allows the plants to stand out complimenting one another.
Making a computer model... Using ArchiCAD I made a model to scale and using a person it helped me to get more sence of the scale before I finalized design and graphic detailing.
THE PROCESS 2014
The emphasis within the Emerging Designs is on DESIGN and INNOVATION! Of thinking ‘outside the square’. However a strong horticultural content should be included within your designs. Emerging Design Gardens work to a ‘Client Brief’ as shown below.
THE PROCESS 2014
WHY DID I CHOOSE MY THEME?
The space left in the middle of the garden was to be Italian tiling, 600mm x 600mm travertine and pictured feature tiles scattered throughout. In doing this it gives the empty space more contrast, which then naturally draws the persons eye from the middle of the water feature down to the feature tiles and around the garden linking the belezza and tranquility together.
Before creating a design strategy I did more research into this international country and suddenly came across the words Giardino segreto. Giardino segreto means ‘literally, a secret garden, often concealed by being sunken below ground level. It was a feature found in most Italian gardens’. This describes my garden and it is also where my exhibit name and ideas came from.
GIARDINO SEGRETO Researching through my books at home, looking at Italian and international gardens. Came across this description which guided me through my design process.
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A place of intimacy, peace and harmony. Surrounded by whimsical planting and an Italian inspired modern, symmetrical structure. A cascading water feature linking the belezza and tranquility together. A place often concealed by being sunken and secluded below ground level... A secret garden.
CONCEPT PLAN TROUGHS
200MM X 2000MM WALL BUILT IN FOR GARDEN HEIGHT AND A PLACE TO SIT VINES IN THROUGHOUT THE TOP
UNDERNEATH ALL CONSTRUCTION POLYSTYRENE OR TIMBER
WALLS AND CONSTRUCTION COLOUR TO BE OFF-WHITE PAINT, PLASTER
SEATING
THE PROCESS 2014
Giardino segreto...
THE PROCESS 2014
MY BREIF
600MM X 600MM FEATURE TILES INFORMAL MIX OF A PATTERNED TILE AND A MORE PLAIN TILE.
MIXED USE OF ITALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND NATIVE (UNKNOWN)
STEPS
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GIARDINO SEGRETO
From the previous exhibit process, I learnt it would be much easier to get all my resources from Christchurch especially that I wasn’t 100% sure on the materials I were to use for the construction. As it’s easier to communicate and negotiate with people in person I decided to fly down there a month in advance before build up. A previous exhibitor I met in the 2013 Ellerslie Flower show Scotty Fletcher, had been contacted by me which then followed by the offer of his time and direction around Christchurch as that is where he was personally located and had connections to builders, hard material suppliers and nursaries. This was a huge help for me to get sponsorship and to get the exhibit built by professional builders. Going through my options of the cheapest hard material for the construction of the exhibit, I was introduced to a company Plastercrete, which offered sponsorship for their product hebel, this then was finalized with their generous offer of their laborers. As I firstly chose polystyrene blocks, I then realized that the chosen cover of the walls and the construction ‘tiles’ would not be able to stick. A builder who offered to help me with the exhibit introduced me to a tiling company called Stone and Tile Solutions. As I want the best for my exhibit, they were offering to sponsor me their product that I instinctively agreed to. Not only the sponsorship of the tiles but also sponsorship of their award winning tillers to come do the job. Visiting their company, I got to choose my off white tiles which were suitable for the walls and construction cover along with my main feature tiles on the floor. Ellerslie offers a nursery called Gardening Solutionz, which sponsors $3000 worth of their plants to each emerging design exhibitor. The bonus of doing the show in 2013, I met a worker from the nursery who allowed me to take as many plants as wished as long as they were returned in the same condition. The plants I was unable to find in Gardening Solutionz that would be suitable for my exhibit, I managed to get sponsorship for from other nursaries.
GIARDINO SEGRETO
THE PROCESS I WENT THROUGH...
The importance was also sorting the signage and the plumbing of the water feature, I managed to get discounts for and professional installations.
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TIMELINE OF THE BUILDING PROCESS...
START
Having limited amount of hebel and sizes which got sponsored we had to work with what we had. This ment using timber to fill some space
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Visiting Artistic topiary plant nursary. All types of shaped hedges. Not having more plain cone shaped conifers.
Builder Simon making the back of the wall stronger as its made out of thick ply.
Visiting Gardening Solutionz and picking out my plant combos which got put aside for mefew weeks before the show.
After a few hours started realizing the construction isn’t as easy as it looks on plan.
Looking at travetine tiles for feature tiles- Finding a few samples
Helping to make the water feature wall. Always need to have a go at what you cant quite do!
Came across these fancy tiles and thought it would be perfect for a WOW FACTOR on my feature wall.
Got sponsorship for hebel. Plans were pinned up and the main walls put up.
3day trip to Christchurch in November 2013. First steps of visiting few nursaries and tile stores
First day allowed on site in mid-February. Personally arrived to Chch a month early, meeting builder and few sponsors
Meeting new tiler sponsors. Took a couple weeks finalizing tiles and waiting for some tile deliveries from Auckland.
A week later few extra builders screwing mdf to existing ply walls and raising it up to 2m as the existing wall is 1.8m
2 nights before judging and the tiles were getting grouted!
Tilers started on the water feature wall. Watching them perfectly tile made me realize it might take longer than i thought.
Taking longer than we all thought, there were 2 late nights till about 10pm12pm.
Once floods went down we were able to dismantle exhibit. A big hammer wouldnt do it, so a digger did the job in the end.
Silver edges were added for detailing. It was something i didnt expect but loved and learnt about that extra detail in tiling.
About 4days before judging the tilers were able to arrive on the weekend. Very stressful week for me not having them when needed.
The amount of team work and detail they put into tiling was amazing to watch.
Having half an hour before being kicked off site. My feature tiles were layed down last and signage fixed to my exhibit
Public show days were over and then the flood happened. Not allowed on site for 4days as the park was flooded severely.
GIARDINO SEGRETO
ELLERSLIE INTERNATIONAL FLOWER SHOW 2014
FINISH
The day before judging Christchurch had a really bad strom with hail and heavy rain. Back on site that night and sorting the plants.
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BUILT IN WALL REMOVED FROM FIRST PLAN SEATING EXTENDED (BOTH SIDES)
TILING CHOSEN FOR ALL WALLS AND CONSTRUCTION TURKO ARGENTO PORCELAIN TILING
PARALLEL GARDEN BEDS WIDER CHOSEN MIXED PLANT COMBOS THROUGHOUT BOTANICAL NAME Lavandula Pratia pedunculata Corokia cotoneaster 'Geentys Green' Corokia cotoneaster 'Bronze King' Thuja occidentalis Apodasmia similis Solanum laxum Rosmarino Stephanotis floribunda Hebe
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COMMON NAME Italian Lavender White Star Creeper Corokia Geentys Green Corokia Bronze King Italian Cypress Oi Oi White Potato Vine Italian Rosemary Madagascar Jasmine Hebe Purple Sapphire
CROSS SECTION
600MM X 200MM WHITE MATTE PILAMO CERAMIC TILING FOR WALLS 4MM MDF BOARD SCREWED TO EXISTING PLY WALL ANY TIMBER FOUND ON-SITE TO HOLD ONE END OF HEBEL 600MM X 300MM WHITE MATTE TILING FOR ALL CONSTRUCTION
SCALE 1:20 PLANTS LEFT IN POTS AND COVERED IN MULCH
600MM X 600MM TURKO ARGENTO PORCELAIN TILING
100MM THICK HEBEL SHEETS CUT TO SIZE NEEDED
PALETTES USED TO FILL IN GARDEN BEDS
GIARDINO SEGRETO
BUILT IN WALL KEPT FOR WATER FEATURE - AS IT POPS OUT AND HOLDS WATER
GIARDINO SEGRETO
ELLERSLIE INTERNATIONAL FLOWER SHOW 2014 FINAL PLAN
ROOFIX 17 WOODSCREW HEX HEAD, 10 GAUGE WIDTH X 100MM LONG
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Giardino segreto‌ A place of intimacy, peace and harmony. Surrounded by whimsical planting and an Italian inspired modern, symmetrical structure. A cascade water feature linking the bellezza and tranquillity together. A place often concealed by being sunken and secluded below ground level‌
A secret garden. Special thanks to my sponsors! -
Show casing yourself and design to the public... Telling the public a story about the garden, made them fascinated in what i had to say and what the garden had to show, drawing more and more people into it. The top right image is the description of my brief and perspective, a show programme for Ellerslie published in the NZ gardener magazine. Allowing me to show case myself and my design which clearly shows off my simplistic style.
Designed by Patricia Morrison Emerging Design 08 Student of Unitec, Mt Albert Auckland
GET IN TOUCH!
CONTACT - Patricia Morrison on (021)2590885 - or email me - pmorrison6991@gmail.com
My brochure... I produced brochures to promote my garden and myself. Making a decent amount of copies allows you to leave the brochures at your exhibit without monitoring them. Public may take as many as they wish.
SIGNAGE... As well as promoting myself, it is always important to promote your sponsors. Not only signage was provided for them but I also promoted them by handing out their brochures and business cards.
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GIARDINO SEGRETO
GIARDINO SEGRETO
PUBLICITY
Public feedback... I was absent from my exhibit the day this family visited my exhibit. They had emailed me which put a smile on my face considering i was still disappointed with a few outcomes of the garden. This is a good testimonial to have when starting up a business with a website. Producing brochures definitely makes it worth while.
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We spoke about the 2014 show and he told me he could help sort sponsors and materials to help for further shows if I choose to enter again, as he has been in the industry for a while in Christchurch and has good contacts. I emailed Scotty a few months later about my interest in the 2014 show and asked again if he could help show me around and take me to some of his suppliers and contacts I could possibly use for my design. I organized a trip to Christchurch where I met up with Scotty and started to create my own networking groups in which I could have a future affiliation with for further shows or even projects. The networking process is an extremely important process that can make the difference between the award you want and the award you are given. After gathering your network group together which consists of many meetings and conversations, sometimes from a far which is always tricky and has its good and not so good points, this is why your own organization and delegation skills are of paramount importance. During the build up and show the networking continues along with the camaraderie and showmanship between designers, suppliers and contractors is one of the most important things for branding yourself also creating and affirming affiliations to help make the process easier for future projects in your own business and future garden shows. What I learnt from previous shows was crucial, the things to take into account was giving myself, the suppliers and contractors more than a week to start and complete my show garden as this years garden was much more ambitious and technically difficult. It was stressful at times as it can be hard to organize meeting times along with suppliers and contractors arriving on site at the same time, so time management and communication is extremely crucial for it to work as it was planned.
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Due to the fact that it was difficult to organize such things as contractors and suppliers coinciding together at the right place and the right time, considering these contractors and suppliers where giving up there time and materials, they generally needed to complete their working day so time was rushed and usually at the end of the working day. The only failures which occurred was, leaking of the water feature as there was not enough time for drying before the tiles were installed so it was rushed and not completely done to spec. Also the natural stone tiles didn’t completely fit to measurement so there was not enough time once again to cut into place, as this was the last thing to be done and put into place. This meant the tiles had to overlap and where unstable under foot. Some cracking occurred when the judges entered the garden. Along with other minor detailing of this ambitious, technically challenging design and build placing me an overall bronze award. This has taught me to always check measurements thoroughly especially for things as difficult as fitting tiles and also waterproofing properly and allowing enough time to dry as this can actually become a hazard.
CONCLUSION
During the end of our garden breakdown in 2013 I approached a major exhibition exhibitor named Scotty Fletcher, an exhibitor since the show went to Christchurch in 2009. So I guess subconsciously my networking started then.
Although I was disappointed with my award as it was the same as the previous year, but in saying that, this year I was sole designer and needed the process to learn for future shows. One of the judges from the emerging design category gave me good constructive feedback and told me the public would adore what I have achieved as they are the people that matter the most for furthering my career as a landscape architect. Before the show opened to the public we fixed these issues or as many as we could, I then enjoyed the process of talking to the public, handing out brochures to promote myself and my sponsors.....networking again. All in all it was a thrilling, exhilarating and exhausting experience that I would recommend to any student or anyone in the industry for that matter.
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