RHS Design & Build winner etches accessibility into new community garden
Caroline Mantell has been awarded this year’s RHS Design and Build award for her Wild and Free Garden now stitched into the grounds at Lockwood Studios in Guildford.
Every year, students on the Level 4 RHS Diploma in Horticultural Practice at RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey, put forward a project, with the winning design going on to be built by the students.
Mantell’s design is centered around the needs of the people at the community hub based in Guildford. Lockwood Studios aims to unlock individual health and creative potential, while they’re currently building a diverse programme of arts, events and wellbeing activities for all.
Current facilities include enterprise studios, a music school, a boxing gym, AV production studios and exhibition space.
Truly a space for all, Mantell says, “I wanted the garden to be first and foremost about the people at the Studios. Life can be very stressful, so providing a space for people that in some way reduces that was a focus from the start,” adding:
“The garden is designed to be welcoming for all, there’s no expectations on the person for them to enjoy the space, so they can come as they are, feel safe and protected and the garden welcomes them. That works for our natural communities as well, pollinators and wildlife should find the garden just as welcoming and both can be mutually beneficial.”
On top of this, the design holds a personal connection with Mantell. “I’ve recently started to lose my hearing, and there are barriers in everyday life that I hadn’t realised until they became a lived reality to me,” she explains.
Sometimes feeling trapped by spaces that don’t adapt to compensate for her needs, she didn’t want this to be the case for her garden. “The spaces are designed to allow people freedom to move and connect with the space in a way that suits them,” she says. “But the range of different accessibility needs are vast and I won’t pretend to have considered them all,” she admits. Still, through careful, multi-sensory planting and functional areas, she says:
“I hope the flexibility of the space will allow everyone to find their own way in it.”
The new haven for Lockwood Studios, the space opens up into a large, adaptable community space. The planned murals on the floor, art walls behind the pergola, and generous planting surrounding the space promotes the feeling of freedom required to be inspired by nature and generate new thoughts and ideas for your projects.
Credit: RHS Robert Spanring
The second half of the garden is calmer and more focussed on a feeling of safety, relief, and encourages space to slow down, pause and observe.
“I hope that the community at Lockwood will take ownership and be inspired to make their mark on the garden, enjoy it and look after it into the future,” explains Mantell.
From reusing and recycling materials from its former days, trees, shrubs and permeable surfaces have been used across the garden. “I wanted the space to educate and allow for the longevity of the garden, so signage is used to explain techniques and give tips on how to protect and nurture the garden all add to its sustainability into the future,” she adds.
A place for experimentation, collaboration and creative freedom, the Wild and Free garden settles into its home at Lockwood Studios, ready to be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of ability.
