Hello Angeli!  

 

Hi, good morning, David, how are you?  

 

I'm good, thanks. It'd be great to chat with you about some of the work you are doing in the area of dementia-friendly gardens, and the importance of landscape actually in terms of a post-pandemic need for the city? Where are you with your work on dementia-friendly gardens because you did publish something in May on that, didn't you?

 

I did indeed. Hi, David, thank you very much for speaking to me this morning. We published something for the Dementia Week, because really, to us it is very much about providing safe, secure and almost a holistic living environment for people. And that was in a way in effect to enhance their sense of purpose, health and wellbeing too. And the reason why we did publish this piece; we just believe that never has landscape design really be more important in the current COVID-19 situation, in the pandemic, in relation to not just everybody but also to dementia and care.

 

And is this to do with wellness in general, then? Is that where your feeling comes from?

 

It is to do with wellness, but it's also to us about improving the quality of life for residents, and almost creating enjoyment and to encourage those with dementia to live a more active and stimulating life, which also helps combat the effects of declining cognitive abilities.

 

You put some of these principles into action, I believe, in a project called Beachcroft House. Could you explain what those principles that make up what you call a dementia-friendly garden are. We will put a link to your paper (https://www.prp-co.uk/news/features/why-dementia-friendly-gardens-are-more-important-than-ever%E2%80%A6.html) but just in brief detail if you could give me a couple of examples?

Sure. There are, I think, four key factors that we look at and we include within our designs at PRP. 

 

The first one relates very much to access and proximity to external spaces. So, access, movement and orientation. It's providing level access to garden areas and having that seamlessness from the communal rooms out onto the patios, for example. 

The second element is really about memory and mental mapping. So, in a lot of our schemes, we would actually view the garden - we've pitched to the images of smell and touch. So, our planting design really emulates and gives this very strong sense of smell, which also provides normality, security and refuge as well, in a way. It's about providing garden experiences. And that ability to have this reminiscence and engaging familiar activities. You know, when we're picking flowers, or growing herbs, and vegetables, as well. 

The third element is about sensory stimulation. So, quiet contemplation, ease distress and sensory permanence - just really introducing stimuli of colour and with textural contrast. For our planting, the choice of paving material, for example, and ensuring that the right material is used to avoid that glare, and shine, which may be sometimes mistaken for slippery surfaces. And then lastly, it's about providing that refuge – the shelter and shade. And considering a summer house or a winter garden containing indoor planting. And if it is a summer house, it's providing that access into the garden environment at all times, and all seasons as well. And the choice of the planting palettes reflects seasonal change to facilitate people's association with natural timelines and chronology. 

This is what we wrote in May for Dementia week. And I'm kind of repeating some of the principles I'm talking to you now.

 

I mean, it strikes me that some of those principles could apply to any well-designed exterior space – to what degree is that true? And to what degree do you think that landscape is more important and has a sort of heightened level of importance in this particular age that we're living through?

 

I think if you look at our Beachcroft scheme we just want people to enjoy living in a space, you know? We are looking at the later living side of things and people are living in this accommodation, and they really want to enjoy their life and people feel very close to these outdoor spaces. But like you say, it's not just about dementia care and later living – these principles need to be really part-and-parcel of what we design within landscape spaces. It's about the quality of life that we're providing for people. So, at the end of the day, we are designing for people, and these spaces need to be people-friendly and people-orientated. And then on our estate regeneration, we really want people to take ownership of the spaces that they are within.

 

So the community gardens, for example, that we design, we really work with the community and the neighbourhood, and really engage with them in terms of the type of spaces that they want to be in; the type of furniture that they want to have in these spaces. And more and more now, people really want community gardens. So, community planters, for people do plant their own herbs and now and vegetables and their own fruits. So more and more, it is about people.

Do you think landscape is an area that's been neglected until this period where we're moving the lens on to the whole discipline more, as a result of COVID and lockdowns, etc?

 

I think, having been in the industry for quite a long time I've seen how landscape has become important and part-and-parcel of what we design on a day-to-day basis. If we take last year as an example, everybody wanted that little piece of grass, whether it was the one just on the street to be able to go out, because not everybody has a garden. And people needed that fresh air to just walk out in during the pandemic. We have spoken internally, with our colleagues here about the importance of creating little parklets, nowadays, to give the opportunity for people to be out and to be able to embrace and have a little bit of landscape that they can call their own.

 

And lastly, because we're almost up to time as an aside, the landscape feature that's emerged in Westminster, The Mound; to what degree has that set back the popularity of landscape architecture in the public eye, do you think? And indeed, what are your own personal feelings about that project?

 

Well, my own personal feeling about this project is that it's a little bit unfortunate that there hasn't been enough consultation, I would think, in terms of what needed to be provided in this area. Is it going to be used? I'm not really sure. I've seen a few pieces recently in the news that there are a few elements that are being brought in to look at the usability of the space. I guess I wished there was more consultation with people before The Mound was developed and designed and implemented.

 

Okay. And lastly, there are two PRP projects we haven't mentioned that your practice is working on at Wembley Park and High Path. Presumably the same principles apply there in terms of landscape being used as a sort of community 'glue' for those schemes? 

 

Oh, absolutely. High Path Estate In the middle of South Wimbledon, literally just next to South Wimbledon Station, is probably an example of how the community got involved from the outset. We were commissioned to start the process in 2012, and we worked incredibly hard with the community to produce the outline masterplan that we've got. We have a park, which is our neighbourhood park, central to the masterplan. It is what is binding everything within that masterplan. It is such an asset in South London in the middle of South Wimbledon. And the way we've designed the park with the community it is a park for everybody. It is that piece of landscape that roots the whole neighbourhood. Anyone can actually go to the park and use this facility, so that what we wanted to create. And with the community: we've had coffee mornings, use consultation, we've had walkabouts, we've taken residents to visit other schemes for them to tell us what they like and what they don't like. 

 

Brilliant Well, we're going to have to leave it there because we're over time. But thank you very much Angeli. That's fascinating stuff. And I hope that landscape can be a big feature in a lot more of your work and indeed, everybody else's work, as we come out of this period.

 

Thank you very much, David. Thank you.