Set within a reclaimed post-industrial warehouse, The New Nature reimagines the role of plants in healing our cities. As urban expansion forces development onto contamimnated former industrial sites, we have an opportunity - perhaps even an obligation - to work with these landscapes rather than against them. This garden explores remarkable power of phytoremediation and hyperaccumulation within a new park typology - where plants are used cleanse and restore the earth, instead of simply digging it all up and moving the problem further afield - until the next time.

To highlight this theme, our design draws on the Japanese art of kintsugi, where gold-filled cracks elevate and honouring the history of broken objects, rather than simply replacing them. In The New Nature, golden cracks run thoguh fractured blockwork, weaving their way into the garden and urging the viewer deeper inside. Here, the damage is not hidden; it is integral to the garden’s story of giving new life. The pavers were hand-sawn from a repurposed mid-century driveway, the concrete uprights were saved from landfill, and the washed recycled aggregate was replete with curios from its storied history - coloured glass, terracotta, ceramic dishware, and a Victorian-era halfpenny were in amongst the rubble.

By embracing both the imperfections of our society and the healing passage of time, The New Nature reframes brokenness as resilience. This philosophy extends beyond symbolism and mnateriality – It challenges the convetions of landscape design: do we always need carte blanche to make the best design? Must we erase the past before we can create something beautiful? The answer, we believe, is no.