Greening our cities
Award-winning garden designer for London and the South East, Kate Gould, is to showcase a modern living garden space (above) to help 'green up' our cities at this year's Chelsea Flower Show.
'City Living' is a contemporary garden designed to be built on several different levels, to turn the exterior of a cold and forbidding residents' apartment block into a luxurious and verdant outdoor space. The garden demonstrates ideas using planting and water features to be enjoyed communally and to provide city habitats for wildlife.
Sustainable materials include specially sourced hard wood decking and Kate has chosen to use an innovative light transmitting concrete which is eye-catching at night. This effect is enhanced further by the use of two giant orange anglepoise lamps.
Anglepoise lamps were invented in the 1930's by automotive engineer George Carwardine and later used by wartime bombers. Sir Kenneth Grange, designer of the Kenwood Mixer and the Intercity 125 train, became Anglepoise studio design director in 2003 and two years later the lamp was ranked as one of the top six most influential designs in contemporary living by The Design Museum, London.