Seeking Balance: Woman and the man’s world

The gardens of this purpose built all female college were dominated by the powerful brutalist architecture. My inspiration came from the college’s all female art collection and channelling key female pioneers that blazed a path through a traditionally male-dominated, professional environment.

The new garden pulls on the influences of what it is to be female & breathes new life into the college grounds, so that both gardens and buildings shine individually and together. 

The garden is not a rebellion or a bitter anecdote, but a celebration of the female and all that it encompasses. Each different part of the garden aims to represent female characteristics to provide an uplifting and inspiring setting: bold & brave, creative & strong, determined & resilient, sensitive & thoughtful, ambitious & independent, playful and dynamic. 

Brief:

• Redress the imbalance of the site and improve the relationship of the garden to the architecture.
  

• Improve functionality of the garden by defining areas for different uses. 
  

• Provide display space for art installations and sculpture. 
  

• Propel the original intent of the architecture through to it surroundings and create a bold, powerful and beautiful environment for female students.
  

• Weave a narrative into the garden: an exploration of what it is to be female: not a patronising version of femininity, but a representation of ‘woman’.