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Artworks
rankinfraser landscape architecture
Achamore Gardens TriptychEmbossed paperUnframed: 26 x 66 cm
Framed: 33 x 70 x 2 cm£ 500.00Further images
This work is priced unframed. Please enquire for framing options. The work that we have been undertaking over the last eighteen-months on the community-owned Isle of Gigha speaks directly to...This work is priced unframed. Please enquire for framing options.
The work that we have been undertaking over the last eighteen-months on the community-owned Isle of Gigha speaks directly to the theme of critical action, with a particular focus on the potential of people, locality and environment to positively shape the rural landscape. The complex history of the ownership of the island and gardens is a reflection of the power of people and of community. Throughout its long history, the Isle of Gigha has passed through many hands, including those of James Horlick, who established Achamore Gardens in 1944. His vision was of a home for rare and exotic plants, and his passion for rhododendron, one species of which is today considered invasive, led him to develop his own variety of the plant. In 2002, islanders succeeded in buying the island with help from the National Lottery. Whilst the gardens today are owned and managed by the local community, its historic plant collection is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. Today, the diverse and characterful plant species of Achamore Gardens are under threat from climate and ecological breakdown and by a gulf stream on the verge of collapse. Our ongoing work, following on from a wider strategic vision for the park completed in 2021, looks to establish a propagation centre within a reimagined walled garden for the 21st century to facilitate the gardens’ ongoing research and botanical work. Throughout our work on this site, we have been conscious of the need to tread lightly in our design proposals, and to bring out the unique and existing qualities of the site wherever we can. These embossed features distil the unique elements of site and design: buildings and approach, canopy, and drains. Created as our work on proposals for a renewed walled garden and propagation centre develop, these elements have been a means for our practice to discuss ideas and themes that are intricately connected to our work on the island. The subtlety and simplicity of our work in Achamore Gardens both honour the existing qualities of the site and ‘seize today’s exceptional opportunities for mending present imbalances and stitching the highly damaged tapestry of our planet.’ (Yasmeed Jari, Letter to a Young Architect, Architectural Review 2021.) Our submission takes the form of a series of diagrams that communicate different elements of our work on site: identifying historic plant collections and a strategic approach to woodland management that highlights key views as a means of wayfinding; analysing the drainage on site and opening up the gardens’ historic drainage ditches; and defining routes and paths throughout the gardens. Embossed onto paper, our submission highlights what we an achieve by being sensitive to our surroundings and celebrating delicate interventions in the landscape