Conceptual gardens to shed new light at RHS Tatton Park
Three conceptual gardens inspired by the International Year of Light will feature at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park (22-26 July).
The garden will champion the International Year of Light, which was set up by the United Nations to highlight the vital role light plays in providing solutions to global challenges.
The UN proclaimed 2015 as the IYL to promote improved public and political understanding of light in the modern world and three top garden designers are exploring elements of light-based science at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park.
?Light Catcher? by Cheshire designer Sharon Hockenhull is an experience of light, offering visitors an opportunity to see how natural light can be captured and harnessed in the garden setting to create drama.
By using a range of materials chosen for their reflective, diffusive and fluctuating qualities, the designer?s aim is to create a visually reactive, thoughtful space to rest and pass through; symbolising a celebration of our collective and unifying experiences of light.
Manchester-based Leon Davis? garden design is inspired by a computer-generated image from the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).
Titled ?Quantum of Light?, the garden acts as a visual interpretation of the moment an atom is energised following a particle collision, emitting photons which are particles representing a quantum of light.
A colour palette of red, blue and yellow flowering plants will create a dynamic ‘energy flash’ which will radiate from a central concrete core.
Hard landscape materials of steel and concrete have been chosen to symbolise industrial processes used to create the event.
?Reflecting Photonics? by designer trio Helen Elks-Smith, Kate Hart and Helen Parsons demonstrates the research into optical fibre conducted by the world leading Optoelectronics Research Centre based at the University of Southampton.
The pavilion and roof reflect a holey fibre structure, with fibre-optic glass ?drops? (created as part of the fibre fabrication process) set into the floor, allowing the wave-form in the path to act as a metaphor for how light refracts along the fibres.
Perspex rods within the landform reference the ?preforms? of the fibre product laid in the earth, which grow during the fibre ?drawing? process to provide the final communication pathways seen at the surface.
Kris Hulewicz, show manager for RHS Flower Show Tatton Park said: ?We are delighted to have these remarkable gardens at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park, which help portray the important messages of the UN?s International Year of Light initiative.
?RHS Tatton prides itself on being a platform for new and exciting ideas, and this year is no different.?
Toby Shannon, International Year of Light UK coordinator said: ?We?re absolutely thrilled that these talented designers have chosen to celebrate the International Year of Light through their designs for gardens at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park.
?The designs are not only elegant but also explore scientific concepts in a really exciting way ? bringing together design, horticulture, physics and engineering in a celebration of light and colour.
?I hope that visitors to the displays are inspired to think about how they can bring an extra dimension of light into their own gardens and the vital part that light plays in our world.?
Tickets are now available for the 2015 RHS Flower Show Tatton Park on 22 ? 26 July.
