“Inspired, What Drives Successful Design”

The 15^th GLDA Seminar was held in the national Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin on Saturday 29^th January.

The speakers were:

·         James Doyle of James Doyle Design Associates

·         Roisin Heneghan of Heneghan Peng Architects

·         Hugh Ryan of Hugh Ryan Landscape Design

·         Tom Stuart-Smith, award winning British Garden Designer

All speakers were to talk about what inspires them in the landscape and garden design process and how their businesses have grown.

The day kicked off with James describing his start in the garden design industry.  He admitted himself that it was a series of chances that led him to discover his interest in gardening, specifically design.  His first projects were restoring and re-imagining some period houses in Greenwich, Connecticut.  This led to more clients in the same area and soon James was running an office with 10 employees.

He stressed the importance of working with quality crafts people.  This will achieve the high quality design’s that is his signature.  Also, by forming these partnerships he is able to specify every aspect of the garden, down to the material used on outdoor furniture.

He firmly believes in using proper branding to progress his business and to attract more clients.  It is something that has slow returns, as people may take business cards and not get in contact for some months.  However, it is important for the image of the business and consistency of brand is a must.

Next to speak was Roisin Heneghan who spoke about her company’s work on large projects such as the Giants Causeway in Antrim, a bridge in the Olympic Park in London and the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo.   They have produced extremely clever designs that work with the sites natural topography.  Their approach achieves constructions that are beautiful in design but yet functional.

For example, Roisin described the design process on the bridge in the Olympic Park.  This bridge had to accommodate the high capacity during the Olympic Games but yet leave a structure that would suit the legacy landscape.  They have produced a polished stainless steel structure that will have temporary decking on either side of it throughout the games.  This temporary deck will be removed after the games revealing the stainless steel underside of the bridge.  The deck itself is surfaced in a series of coloured circles, reflecting the London Olympic colours.

After lunch Tom Stuart-Smith took the stage.  Tom showed pictures of gardens in both Italy and Britain that inspired his work.  That led on to some of the projects he has worked on, such as the RHS  Garden Wisley.  He believes that the garden design should exhibit variety and complexity, as we have enough monoculture in our lives already.  Tom said that we shouldn’t strive to have the plants looking good in the garden at all times of the year.  There should be times, usually in the winter, when the garden takes a break and doesn’t look as good.  This way, you appreciate it more when it looks full of life and colour in the summer.

Last speaker of the day was Hugh Ryan.  Hugh believes that there is a design ‘gene’ which certain people may have.  They will have pre-loaded programs that they can work with naturally and then download additional information as they work and gain experience.

Hugh went on to talk us through the garden design projects that he had worked on.  He finds great inspiration from the sea; its colours, movement and reflective qualities.  Growing up in Dalkey, the sea had a big influence on his life and he now taps into this when creating his designs.

For me, the speaker of the day was Roisin Heneghan.  Her company has worked on so many sites, some of huge scale.  Each time they have developed a scheme that provides a very inventive solution while being both beautiful and practical.  Roisin herself was an entertaining speaker and was very clear on how the finished design evolved.

I’m looking forward to next years conference already!

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