The Pineapple Garden

Cover

Vectorworks Drawings

Hand Drawing

Client brief

The clients are a professional couple in their late twenties with no children. They commute into the City each day.
Their house is an Edwardian brick-built terraced house in North London. They enjoy eating, relaxing and entertaining in the garden. The Interior of the house is a mix of traditional and contemporary.
They have good holiday entitlements with their work. They enjoy mountaineering and rock climbing in the Swiss Alps and Scotland and travelling to South America and the Far East.

Requirements:

A garden that reflects their styles and tastes
Space to entertain friends and an evening area
A natural looking garden that has a feel of freedom and a sense of wildness
An area to sit and read, that is in or part under shade
Eco friendly and sustainable

Inspiration/Theme

The inspiration for this garden design is the pineapple. This is for two reasons:

Edwardian one-upmanship (the history of the pineapple)

For 250 years, the pineapple was a symbol of wealth and status. A single fruit was worth thousands of pounds when it was first brought to Europe by Christopher Columbus.
At social events, a stand would display a pineapple (that you could not eat) in the centre of a platter of cheaper fruits. Often the same pineapple was paraded from event to event until eventually it went rotten. The pineapple was expensive enough to warrant security guards!
People would carry pineapples under their arms as a sign of status.
Because the middle class couldn’t afford them originally - businessmen opened up pineapple rental shops across Britain and a market began for pineapple themed goods.
Pineapples were incorporated into art and design, decor and architecture to display wealth and you can still see a lot of this in London today.
For example, Christopher Wren picked golden pineapples to be the crowning feature of each of the towers of St Paul's cathedral. They can be seen on railings, spires of prestigious buildings, on gate posts and tiles…
In Edwardian times, the pineapple was still associated with wealth and status and the best gardeners became prized for growing exotic fruits.

Travel

The pineapple also symbolises travel and exploration which reflects the client's interests. In particular, their love of travelling to South America (the pineapple originates from South America).

How the pineapple has influenced the garden design

The core garden shape

The garden has been designed on a 45 degree angle which resembles the criss-cross of the pineapple's outer skin. The ‘jungle’ at the back of the garden also represents the crown of the pineapple with the rest of the garden being the main fruit.

The planting

Reflects the clients love of travelling to South America and the far east with exotic plant choices (that also have similar shapes to a pineapple)

The shapes within the hard landscaping

I.e. circular/semi-circular shapes within the hard landscaping/furniture to subtly resemble pineapple slices. The effect of using this in the entertaining spaces is that is ties in the Edwardian period, where pineapples were put on display at social events. There are also two large oval mirrors that reflect the planting back into the garden, enhancing the sense of freedom as it blurs the boundaries of the garden.