8 Wilkie Terrace

[Casimiro Lurten]

TheEast Conservatory Plaza is composed of five tiers of sweeping grass-covered terraces that emerge like steps from the landform. The Plaza is surrounded by woodland plantings, including a more than 200-year-old English Yew. The innovative design of the terraced lawn creates a sculptural clearing, allowing for dramatic views of the Topiary and other gardens to the south, as well as of the East Conservatory faade.

The East Conservatory Plaza has been integrated into the landscape by the careful placement of red maple, sweet-gum, bald-cypress, eastern red-cedar, tulip-tree, as well as southern bush-honeysuckle, Japanese holly, Virginia sweetspire and other shrubs, all of which are intended to enhance and extend the plantings of the surrounding landscape.

The composition of the sod in the Plaza is a special formulation created by Longwood Gardens. It includes a mix of two varieties of Kentucky bluegrass and three varieties of Tall fescue. The blend was selected for its early green color and resistance to disease. Currently, 65,000 square feet of sod is being grown for Longwood at Tuckahoe Turf Farm in NJ.

Due to the slope of the terraced landform, Longwood is using a novel and innovative combination of overhead and subsurface irrigation systems to provide adequate and efficient hydration. An overhead system alone would not suffice because of the potential for water to run off the slope; the subsurface irrigation system, which lies just below the surface, combats the runoff and supplements irrigation.

Wilkie was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2002. A typical Scottish colonial child, he grew up in the Malaysian jungle and Iraqi desert before attending school in southern England, studying history at Oxford and environmental design at the University of California, Berkeley.

The garden settings of Longwood have long-served as the backdrop for showcasing top performing artists. Since Pierre du Pont first welcomed his good friend John Philip Sousa to the Open Air Theatre stage in 1922, Longwood has hosted some of the finest artists from various performing genres, including Martha Graham, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, as well as Van Cliburn Medalists, Symphony Orchestras, Grammy-winners and more.

After 25 years of running his own practice, Kim now works as a strategic and conceptual landscape consultant. He collaborates with architects and landscape architects around the world and combines designing with the muddy practicalities of running a small farm in Hampshire, where he is now based.Kim studied history at Oxford and landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, before setting up his landscape studio in London in 1989.

He continues to teach and lecture in America; writes optimistically about land and place from Hampshire; and meddles in various national committees on landscape and environmental policy in the UK.Current projects are focused on regenerative farming combined with human settlement, both in England and North America.

The original Victorian Garden behind the Grade 1 eighteenth century hall has been replaced with a completely new garden of sweeping grass terraces. The terraces flow with the rising land, arcing in a Fibonacci series fan that encompasses the veteran trees and gives the house room to breathe.

Beyond the garden fortifications, a contemporary interpretation of water meadows, with sinuous channels curving between a quilted landscape of wildflowers, has replaced a gang-mown polo pitch and helipad.

Design for the garden as a pivotal space at the centre of the V&A as part of the Future Plan for the whole museum. The design is based on the traditional simplicity of a garden courtyard with the drama and flexibility of a stage set.

Sweeping grass terraces emerge from a new landform and open southwards to the gardens and entrance. Domed top lit lavatory cabinets are hidden within the earthform. These cabinets open off a glass roofed spine through walls of ferns.

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