Hugo Bugg designed the Waterscape Garden, one of 16 show gardens for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2014, highlighting global water issues by mimicking nature’s way of slowing down water, set in an elegant environment.
“One of the fastest rising stars in garden design” (The Telegraph), Hugo Bugg Landscapes is among the U.K.’s most celebrated new garden design practices. His work has a depth of structure and texture, with innovation and juxtaposition serving as key themes of expression.
Closely working together with Bugg, KAZA Concrete designed the technical background and manufactured the seamless cracked earth motif in the form of refined concrete mosaic tiles.
Two different types of larger mosaic-like elements compile the ”cracked earth” pattern. They are made up of 54 different small cracked earth pieces, each individually manufactured, surface-treated and applied onto a carrier layer. This allows quick and painless installation without permanent fixing to the ground, yet creates a seamless arrangement.
The concave surface of each small piece perfectly captures the result of the natural drying-out process.
“The reasons why the visual effect of the installation is so profound are to be looked for in the honest approach to the design work, adjusted to the underplayed but determinative application of technology-based crafts, all acting as pillars to support the overall design theme,” says KAZA Concrete co-founder Peter Oszko.
“KAZA’s contribution to the show garden is the true manifestation of today’s unprecedented possibility of extreme bespoke tile design and manufacturing. The seamless cracked earth surface serves as a symbolic yet very real pattern for the waterscape theme of the project.”
The concave surface of each individually shaped small piece is sculpted in such a way that water finds its way out on one edge of the object and further down through the cracks, gradually permeating the ground. This way the tiles become part of the permeable level in the overall water flow system of the garden and dry much faster.
Bugg’s colour choice of light gray — originally named ‘Moon Garden’ — adds a layer of weightlessness to the contemporary concept and shows how sustainable design can be elegant.
Additional KAZA feature in the RBC Waterscape Garden are the large concrete panels (28 of them) bordering the raised beds. Their geometry originates from the combination of the Platonic solid ‘icosahedron’ and the foundation lines of the flower of life (seven circles), both of which have an important connection with the garden.
The Garden is sponsored by the Royal Bank of Canada, who wanted a design reflecting their Blue Water Project safeguarding the world’s fresh water resources.
