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'Kidneys
for Life: Chaos to Calm’
A show garden at the Royal Horticultural Society
(RHS) show at Tatton Park,
Knutsford, Cheshire
21st - 25th July 2005
We were given
the opportunity to contribute to the light and water effects in the Chaos
Cube at the above garden and are delighted to report that it was awarded a bronze medal by the RHS judges.
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This concept garden was designed by Annie
Tollafield, Helen Beckitt, Paula Revill and Sophy King who were students at
the Landscape Architecture School of Design and Art at Manchester Metropolitan
University and built by contractors 'QGardens'.
It is intended to raise awareness of the
life-sustaining functions that the kidneys perform and to reflect the
physical and emotional journey of patients who experience kidney failure. The
journey, 'From Chaos to
Calm', is split into four visually distinct areas. The
second of these, the 'Chaos Cube',
represents the ill-health stage of the conceptual journey occurring before
the later stages of healing and well-being. Orrelwood Waterworks is
contributing to the Chaos Cube.
- The Chaos Cube is an ideal yet challenging environment for
creative invention with water illuminations. Ideal because of the physical
darkness, yet challenging because here we are using a water feature not to relax
or sooth but to represent the mental and physical discord associated with
ill-health.
- The large waterfall (5 metres wide and 2 metres high) inside the Chaos Cube
is
designed to be noisy, brooding, agitating and oppressive within its confining, dark space.
- We decided upon the use of a colour palette
based around red to represent negative emotions such as fear, anxiety and
confusion. This contrasts dramatically with the black slate walls.
- Above the pond we use stark, flashing
lines of light to echo the jagged architecture of the Cube itself.
- In the pond itself we use bubbling sources
of water and fiery light that mysteriously appear and disappear to echo the
thirst-inducing aridity of the Chaos garden.
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External view by day of the
Chaos Cube and garden |
Internal view at twilight of the
illuminated waterfall inside the Cube |
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