Garden Rooms

The first major change I did as a young student was in my parent’s large back garden, call it a practice run.

The garden was long and level, so I decided to break up the expanse with a hedge about 2/3 of the way up the back garden and created a gap in the hedge so you could see and walk through into the room beyond.

Immediately the entire garden seemed larger and somehow related to the house better.

I’ve since learned that dividing a garden into rooms makes it feel larger and draws the perspective, and I use these as design principles in many of my designs today.  Little did I appreciate that this ancient art form has been practiced for hundreds of years.

Seeing the garden beyond moves the definition of the garden so it can’t be seen in one glance, you have to go through the gap to see what’s beyond.  This could be something that relates to the first room or a different function or both, either way it makes the entire space less obvious.  It also allows the garden to be discovered slowly and not all at once.  It allows for the element of surprise.

The dividing hedge forms an architectural element that usually runs parallel with the back of the house and the gap in the hedge is usually placed so it lines up with a significant window or door. In this way, house and garden become more intrinsically aligned and connected.

So dividing any garden, especially large gardens into rooms is a principle that has many benefits.

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