...Barriers to Creativity

Watching the garden build up for the Bloom event it was interesting to note the different approaches taken by designers to the creation of spatial enclosures. The seasoned pros, used to the stage-set realities of show garden construction, quickly erected timber facades, which were rendered, painted and clad to appear as solid constructions. Those designers with less experience struggled with blocks, mortar and concrete.

Upon questioning a couple of the designers as to their chosen construction materials and methods, I was surprised to learn that many hadn’t even considered using a façade, while one designer, whose design involved two distinctly curved walls, just couldn’t find a carpenter to build his ambitious curved wall.

While the challenge of show garden construction rears its head once or twice a year, the challenges of creating complex spatial enclosures is a problem that garden designers face every day; and with the Irish public becoming ever more adventurous in what they are prepared to install beyond the back door, it’s a problem that is only going to get more challenging. Restricted space, the load baring problems of roof gardens, planning regulations, carpenters who only use set squares and blockies that look at you like you’ve got two heads when you present them with a swooping curved wall drawing are just a few of the factors that stifle the creative genius of Ireland’s rising tide of garden designers. Thankfully, designer Gary Foran, who’s thinking is almost always outside the box – or is that a sphere? – recognised the potential of an existing material and successfully reinterpreted for Bloom; to the raised eye brows and nods of approval of his fellow Bloomers.

Having designed an ambitious garden space that involved the 
juxtaposing of angles and curves to create raised planting beds, 
paths, a water pool, and feature wall, Gary needed to employ as many 
tricks as possible. “I was fortunate to have received an e-mail at 
just the right time from a company wanting to know if I’d like to use 
their products for Bloom,” Gary explained. “I quickly realized the exciting potential this particular product could have and set about re-designing the 
garden’s curved feature wall, to include new elements that previously 
would have proved too difficult to achieve.” The product that eventually freed Gary from his creative bind was EPS (expanded polystyrene), or to you and me, the white stuff that protects electrical goods from damage and that kids have great fun shedding all over. “It’s similar but not exactly the same,” explained Fran Hollywood, the man behind Louth based company, Made in Hollywood and the creative wizard that might save us all a lot of bother. “Polystyrene foam, sometimes known as Styrofoam, is certainly best known as a packaging material,” he explained. “It is, however, used extensively in the construction industry for external insulation and other applications and is also used to create characters and props for theme parks around the world.”

In use for well over 50 years as a mainstream insulation and packaging material, the last ten years have seen EPS spur a whole host of new applications and it now forms a powerful medium of creative expression for architects and interior designers the world over. “We’ve worked with several architectural firms who wished to realise unique design features that would be almost impossible with conventional materials,” explained Fran. “Because of EPS versatility and the technology we have to hand, we can create practically any desired shape.” The technology Fran refers to includes the latest hot wire cutting machines and CAD based design programs.

The curved walls created for Gary’s garden represent the company’s first foray into the Irish garden and by all accounts it seems to have been a huge success. “EPS was a great material to work with,” commented Gary. “Some of the gardens I’ve worked on over the last few years have incorporated bespoke elements that, with hindsight, could have been made more efficiently and effectively using EPS.”

As for the nuts of bolts of using EPS in the external environment you only have to look at where it is currently being used. “The only limit for EPS is your imagination,” commented Fran. “The variety of applications is limitless due to polystyrene’s unique properties, which include dimensional stability and 100% moisture resistance.” A quick scan of Fran’s online portfolio showed just how far EPS can be taken, and a further web search turned up several overseas design sites, where it was used for water features, walls, furniture and planters for exclusive use outdoors. “Being water resistant, EPS could effectively be used on its own but typically treatments such as tiles, render and reinforcing fibre glass are utilised,” explained Fran. “Monica Alvarez, another designer involved with Bloom, used EPS with tiles to create her garden.”

With gardens increasing in complexity and sophistication and new opportunities opening up on every bit of outdoor space, Irish designers are going to need to harness all the new technology that comes to hand. Having successfully showcased EPS’s versatility at Bloom, Made in Hollywood’s product has firmly established itself as the product of choice for the contemporary garden.

To learn more about EPS and just how Made in Hollywood can realise your imaginative creations, visit www.madeinhollywood.ie or call Fran on (353) 042 938 0268. To see just how other designers are using the product visit www.h2odesigns.com.au and for information on rendering products visit www.weberbuildingsolutions.co.uk