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A Basilica Garden - Page 2


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Page 2

Nov 30, 2001


Some of the greatest architects of the Italian Renaissance designed gardens and they probably used Vitruvian proportions in them, but I can't imagine that this concept has been thoroughly explored. I am always looking for signs of life in the tradition of formal gardens, so I was delighted to come across the U.K. Designer website, which includes a formal garden designed by Hugh O'Connell. This garden features a garden basilica that Hugh designed using Vitruvian proportions.

The idea of dividing a garden up into rooms has been fashionable for at least a century. The gardens at Sissinghurst Castle have done a lot to popularize this approach to garden design, but unlike Sissinghurst's garden rooms, Hugh's basilica isn't really designed to be a setting for a collection of flowers; it might be better described as an open-air temple devoted to the concept of ideal proportions. Hugh has returned to the architectural roots of Italian Renaissance gardens, and instead of imitating earlier gardens, he has created a garden that is both classically beautiful and strikingly original.

The map below shows Hugh's design for the garden. The garden basilica is in the left outlined in pale green. It is joined to the house by a large lawn flanked by flowerbeds. The hedges which enclose the lawn and beds are colored dark green.

In an email to me, Hugh described the site as he first found it: "The survey illustrated the existing proportions of the site. The house has a centre section of four stories, with wings on each side, of three stories. Built in red brick, it dominated the garden. Off the centre section, two Yew taxus baccata hedges with a height of 2.44 metres (8 feet) run parallel to each other down the garden. These formed a rectangle with a cross hedge, curved inward facing hedges replace the corners. All the windows of the house, except one, have standard rectangular shapes. This one, centred on the second story, has a round top. This shape requested by the clients, was to be the theme for the new design."

You can see part of the house in the photo below, which was taken from within the basilica garden. The retaining walls are bulit of York Stone, this stone also edges the large central pool and the smaller raised pool that flows into it through a narrow rill.

The photo below shows the entry to the garden basilica, at the end of the lawn. You can see the importance of the hedge

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Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages
1.   Dec 10, 2001 6:29 AM
Kirk,

Thanks for such wonderfully detailed articles. The pictures really add a lot, too. Whenever I travel, I always try to visit a garden spot. You have given me some wonderful ideas--not just for ...

-- posted by Ophelia40



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