16 March 2012 Rising generation of landscape designers impresses Ellerslie show’s judging convenor

The human handprint on the world’s landscape is getting more and more creative and innovative with every new generation of designers, says the convenor of judges for the 2012 Ellerslie International Flower Show, Jim Fogarty of Melbourne, one of Australia’s top landscape professionals and a double Chelsea Flower Show award winner.

“The conspicuous presence and success of student entrants in this year’s Ellerslie Show signals a continuum of young designers coming through into the landscape profession.

“To have talented student entrants, such as those in the teams from Lincoln University who won Silver and Silver Distinction awards plus the Best in Show Lighting title, all in open categories against seasoned practitioners, speaks volumes for the future of landscape architecture and design,” says Mr Fogarty, who headed a 25-strong panel of judges drawn from Australia and New Zealand, along with one from France.

The Head of Lincoln University’s School of Landscape Architecture, Associate Professor Jacky Bowring, said the success of Lincoln University students in the 2012 show, with its 91 exhibitor entries, made it a vintage year for the University.

“The Ellerslie International Flower Show is New Zealand’s largest garden event and the University has been participating in it for many years. Over that time our students have won many awards and medals in the Tertiary Student category of the competition but this year was different. None of our students entered this category but chose to go head to head with professionals and experienced practitioners in the open sections of the competition.

“The resulting success has given them, and our School of Landscape Architecture, a really good benchmark for the students’ own personal progress, the quality of our programmes and the professionalism these programmes engender.

“Of course competing alongside the student entries there were also exhibits from Lincoln University graduates working in the profession and it was a vintage year among them too with the show’s Supreme Award going to consulting firm Beca and its team led by Senior Landscape Architect Paul Roper-Gee, who completed a Lincoln University Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree with Honours in 1999.  Beca’s team also included two other Lincoln University BLA (Honours) graduates, Jeremy Cooke and Emily Kelly. On the way to the Supreme Award the team won Gold in the Exhibition Garden category, following in the footsteps of 1999 Lincoln University BLA graduate Carl Pickens, who won Gold in the same category in 2009. They also won a Silver in the Lighting category.”

Among this year’s student winners from Lincoln University were fourth year Bachelor of Landscape Architecture undergraduates Hilary Wetton and Leicester Murray, both originally from Marlborough. Their entry, the culmination of an eight-month project conceived and developed at Lincoln University’s  School  of Landscape Architecture,  and three weeks in the making on the Ellerslie site at Hagley Park, was titled “Butterfly Affect”, a word play on the phrase Butterfly Effect  -  the idea from Chaos Theory that small actions can have complex effects.

“In the context of our garden design we are saying that having gardens and doing gardening can lead to complex and multiple reactions,” explains Hilary.

“Our aim was to design and create a space for multiple usages within the confines of a small property. House sizes are decreasing and we saw our project as a realistic option for future house and section dimensions.”

Within a small courtyard-type space, Hilary and Leicester’s design merged an entertainment area with vegetable and flower gardens, thus using the available area efficiently and in multiple ways while creating interest and encouraging biodiversity.

“We see our sustainable courtyard design as consistent with the changing size of dwellings and a realistic proposition for potential clients such as ‘empty nesters’ who have down-sized but are interested in gardens and want a tranquil, relaxed, multiple use, outdoor setting.”

The “Butterfly Affect” exhibit won Hilary and Leicester three awards - a Silver in the Exhibition Garden category, a Silver with Distinction in the Garden Lighting category, and the Supreme Award for Lighting.

“The lighting aspect of our creation was an important and integral part of the design,” says Leicester.

“If you want to maximise the use of a limited outdoor space and have it available for enjoyment into the twilight and night time, then lighting is absolutely critical.

“If done well, you can add three to four hours of outdoor time to your day. And lighting can deliver a fabulous effect.  It’s not cheap but it is a good investment and it can be cheaper than adding on another room to your house.”

Hilary and Leicester pay tribute to Christchurch architectural lighting designer Jeff Merrin of Lume Design who assisted them in this specialist area.

The judges’ said the spatial form of the Butterfly Affect garden was explained at night by a “good understanding of illumination appropriate to the task” and they made special note of the “subtle approach to elements like the water feature”.

Lincoln University students and graduates who won awards this year were -

• Paul Roper-Gee, Jeremy Cooke, Emily Kelly, Beca (graduates): Max’s Pipe Dream, an Engineer’s Garden. Gold, Exhibition Garden; Silver, Lighting. Supreme Award – Best in Show.
• Olivia Bird, Jack Earl, Kess Aleksandrova (current students): Urban Refreshment. Silver Distinction, Exhibition Garden.
• Anna Kitchingman, Jody Tuuta, Daniel Assmus (current student, graduand, BAgr graduate): Elixir. Silver Distinction, Exhibition Garden.
• Leicester Murray, Hilary Wetton (current students): The Butterfly Affect. Silver, Exhibition Garden. Silver Distinction, Lighting. Supreme Award,Lighting.
• Olive Screen (graduate): Straight from the Heart. Silver, Exhibition Garden.
• Xiaohua Li (graduate): MK Limited. Merit, Lighting. 
• Tony Milne, Rough & Milne: Love (in) Your Garden. Silver Distinction, for Canterbury Horticultural Society, Gold Medal Designers Category.