VEDOMISTI. REAL ESTATE: Made in Khamovniki

13 May 2014

VEDOMOSTI. REAL ESTATE: Made in Khamovniki

Moscow is to get its own private park designed by famous landscape designer Chris Beardshow. The chief consultant of the British Royal Gardening Society was invited by Renovation N, the company building the Knightsbridge Private Park residential development in Khamovniki.

The British landscape architect Chris Beardshow has already been to Moscow before: last summer he showcased his Recreation project at the Moscow Flower show. It was a miniature copy of the garden that after the event became property of the Applied Research Centre of Paediatric Neurology. Beardshow often creates gardens and parks for schools, orphanages, hospitals. He believes that it’s a good way to teach the younger generation how to care for the environment. He also got interested in gardening when he was a child. In practically every single one of his interviews Chris reminisces about the first bag of seeds he got as a present for his 14th birthday.

Since then there have been thousands of such seeds and plants grown from them: Chris Beardshow has been given 16 medals by the British Royal Gardening Society alone. It should be noted, however, that these awards have been given for landscape design rather than gardening. Chris Beardshow treats his gardens as theatre plays in which each plant has its own special role. ‘A garden is a work of art in motion that we seek to get inspiration, pleasure and awakening from,’ Beardshow says. He even experiments with other arts: he once conducted a musical experiment on his plants. It turned out that flowers prefer silence or classical music and almost stop growing at all when you put on modern pop music for them. And hard rock makes them low but tough. 

Speaking of gardens and parks Chris Beardshaw always mentions several of his favourite private projects. One good example of an English garden that the designer always cites is Wolerton Old Hall in Shropshire county in the UK. If you want to experience a renaissance garden be sure to visit the Lante villa and the Aldobrandini villa in Italy. Another favourite of Beards haw’s  is the Brenthurst garden in Johannesburg, South Africa – a typical old Dutch garden that’s been given a new life while preserving its biodiversity.

It looks like the design of the new park in Moscow will be devoid of any experimental features. The architectural complex recreates an authentic British block and the park, styled like a classic London garden, will logically extend and add to the architecture. Chris Beardshaw was almost given a carte blanche except for a few urban development regulations. ‘We have a design that’s been agreed with the municipal authorities and that stipulates a specific number of trees and bushes. These figures have to be complied with, but in everything else Chris will have total freedom,’ Renovation N CEO Enver Kuzmin commented. He also noted that despite the project being a private gated development there will be landscaped areas around the perimeter of the community so all Moscow residents will be able to see them.

It’s not clear yet what sort of landscaped areas those are going to be, the design is still being developed and the first sketch should be completed by the end of next spring. It is already known, however that the park’s design will be based on classic geometric proportions and will include both shaded alleyways and secluded resting spots. The plants will range from perennial trees to flowers and will be selected not only based on their adaptability to the Moscow climate but also in a way to make sure the garden looks good in any season.

‘The English garden evolved under the influence of a broad variety of styles and when it comes to building parks Russia and the UK have a lot in common, ‘ Chris Beardshaw says. ‘The various shapes and structures of the plants in this park will be combined with a network of pathways and park sculptures to create a landscape that is going to look beautiful and stylish even in winter. This project, just like my other gardens, needs its own selection of plants. This means that some of the plants are going to come from places other than Russia while pruned and specially shaped plants will give the garden its unique character.’

It is yet unclear how much money this huge project is going to cost (the park will have an area of two hectares). The organisers explain that it’s going to depend on the number and quality of the required plants. As a reference point, the small garden for the Moscow Flower show that had 90 plants of twenty species cost more than RUR 5 million.

Famous Private Gardens around the World

Space Garden, Southern Scotland

This unusual metaphor of a garden was presented by architect Charles Jencks and his wife Maggie. The spouses decided to show the beauty of the universe through the language of gardening, with the scale of objects represented ranging from cosmological objects to the quantum level. Here you can see pyramids, snakes, dragons, atoms, black holes, fractals as well as spirals that play a special role in this garden because the DNA is structured like a spiral, plus hurricanes and even our galaxy are shaped like spirals as well.

Exbury Gardens, New Forest, UK

This is one of the numerous gardens created by the Rothschilds. It is regarded as the most beautiful one. Back in 1919 Lionel Nathan Rothschild build the world’s first irrigation system having laid 36 km of pipes underground. The system is still in operation. Returning from his trips he would bring back exotic plants such as Lebanese cedars, gigantic sequoias, brightly coloured rhododendrons as well as cherry trees. He’d also cross-breed plants getting over 1000 hybrid species. Back then around a hundred gardeners were employed in the garden. Today the garden belongs to Lionel’s great-grandson Nicolas and is open to visitors. And the great-grandfather’s passion has turned into a business. Exbury is a company that grows and sells about 300,000 plants all over the world.

Jardin Majorelle, Marrakesh, Marocco

The garden was founded in 1924 by artist Jacque Majorelle. He was an avid collector of plants who participated in botanical expeditions and had business relations with botanists from all over the world, exchanging rare samples with them. Majorelle brought north American and Mexican cactuses from his trips as well as Asian lotuses, some unique plants from South America and created a true oasis in the middle of a dusty and hot city. In 1980 the garden was bought by couturier Yves Saint Laurent after whose death the land and the garden were inherited by his friend Pierre Berger. Today visitors can see not just the garden itself but also the collection of Islamic art assembled by the famous fashion designer.

Nong Nooch Garden, Pattaya, Thailand  

The garden was opened in 1980 by local land owners Ms Tansaca Nong Nooch and Mr Pisit. Originally they planned to plant the 240 hectare territory with fruit trees but having been impressed with European gardens during a trip abroad they decided to plant a luxurious garden. Today it’s the largest botanical garden in South East Asia where you can find 1,100 species of palm trees with sections devoted to orchids, bonsai and ferns while the garden’s ponds are home to the world’s largest freshwater fish, the arapayama.

Carla Fineschi Rose Garden, Cavriglia, Italy 

This is the world’s largest private rose garden that was laid out in 1967 by medicine professor and avid lover of roses Gianfranco Fineschi. Originally the garden in Fineschi’s old manor had about fifty species planted by the previous owners between 1850 and 1910. Fineschi kept adding to the collection and now it has over 8000 species, including unique roses that can only be found in the Carla Fineschi Rose Garden. The owner named the garden after his wife Carla. After Gianfranco died in 2010 his three daughters took over as custodians of the garden.

Source: Vedomosti. Real Estate

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