When is a garden not a garden? When it’s a work of art. Peveril Gardens, a rooftop community space built above some formerly derelict garages, next to one of London’s busiest roundabouts, is just such a place. From the drab surrounding streets below, it is easy to miss.
But venture up the stairs through the bright- orange doors and you’re in a different world entirely – a world of colour, heat and interest that brings to mind the buildings of Mexican architect Luis Barragán.
In brief
- What Public community rooftop garden designed by Sanchez Benton architects with planting design by Nigel Dunnett.
- Where London.
- Size Approximately 400 square metres.
- Soil Green roof substrate including 20 per cent organic matter, minimum depth 10cm.
- Climate Temperate, but with extreme heat and drought in summer.
- Hardiness zone USDA 9.
The space is a simple rectangle, its four tangerine walls pierced on all sides by long windows. Underfoot, terracotta brick pathways continue and intensify the orange theme, winding around the planting beds whose inhabitants – spiky dasylirions, Melianthus major and spiralling euphorbias – cast their seductive shadows against the walls. Outside, sirens clang and the traffic roars; up here, it’s the sound of grasshoppers you hear first. If the definition of art is something that transports you, this ticks the box.
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The garden is a collaboration between architectural practice Sanchez Benton, planting designer Nigel Dunnett and Mexican artist Gabriel Kuri, and is the result of a design competition organised by Southwark Borough Council for an art commission to improve this part of the borough.
The idea was to have a cosmopolitan mix of plants from virtually every continent that would co-exist.
“Rather than thinking about an artwork or sculpture that could be put into a public place, the architects had the idea that the garden itself would be the artwork,” says Nigel, who was approached primarily because of his experience in creating gardens at the Brutalist Barbican complex across the river Thames.
“Sanchez Benton realised there was a lack of good-quality green space in the area and thought there was an opportunity to create something that engaged with more people in the community than the existing building did.”
Built in 1964, the original structure was conceived as a ‘playground in the sky’ for the residents of the
adjacent Peveril House tower block, accessible via
a raised footbridge. By the early 2000s, however, the garages and bin store beneath had fallen into disrepair, the garden was barely used and the entire podium was threatened with demolition.
Where some might have been underwhelmed by this unprepossessing place and its dispiriting location, Nigel was excited. “I have a real love of Modernist architecture and the vision and idealism behind it,” he says. “And I really loved the idea of this protected ‘playspace’.”
He also loved the proposed design – a dynamic mix of gently undulating topography and bold piercings of the roof, all designed to connect the building with its surroundings. One piercing accommodates the new staircase from the street. Another allows a gleditsia tree to grow up from ground level, and a central skylight illuminates the building below, now occupied by Forma, a contemporary arts organisation.
The project has moved things on from the focus on perennials and the dominant aesthetic of the past 20 years.
Nigel’s initial planting ideas drew on his experience at the Barbican, using a palette of sustainable and
climate-adapted flowering perennials and grasses that would thrive in the shallow, free-draining substrate, but, to his surprise, the architects wanted something quite different. “They referenced monastic cloister gardens and the dramatic foliage seen in Dan Pearson’s garden at the nearby Garden Museum – a very enclosed, sheltered space quite different from this sun-scorched roof garden with its thin soil and exposed site,” says Nigel.
He refers to this initial stumbling block as one of the high points of the project. “In having to come up with low-maintenance foliage plants that would survive in these conditions, it really challenged me and has changed the way I think. It’s moved things on from the focus on perennials and the aesthetic that’s been dominant for the past 20 or 30 years.”
A loose mix of evergreen, drought-tolerant shrubs including Dasylirion acrotrichum, euphorbias (E. mellifera and E. characias subsp. wulfenii), Melianthus major and Fatsia polycarpa Green Fingers provided the solution, with other drought-tolerant plants including Dianthus carthusianorum, Liatris spicata and various sedums, salvias and thymes woven through the spaces. The tree, envisioned by Gabriel Kuri almost as a flag for the garden, is a Gleditsia triacanthos f. inermis ‘Sunburst’, which, at around 15m tall, needed to be craned into position.
To reflect the diverse local community, Nigel has selected plants from all over the world: kniphofias from Africa, nandinas and bergenias from Asia, and astelias from New Zealand, to name but a few.
“I thought it would be a nice metaphor to have a cosmopolitan mix of plants from virtually every continent that would come together and co-exist,” he says. In a similar spirit, self-seeders and blown-in plants are also encouraged, not least by the design, which uses the same gravel emulsion substrate in the beds as in the brick-striped pathways.
“If something looks good and it makes its home here, it’s welcome,” says Nigel, adding that he’s excited to see how the space will develop its own dynamic over time. “Where the paths get lots of usage, self-seeders won’t survive, but in other areas they’ll establish and thrive.”
Key in this process is local resident and dancer Richard Court, who manages the group of volunteers that help maintain the garden for the benefit of the wider community. This includes everyone from the residents of Peveril House (who may come and go as they please) and anyone who wanders in during the public opening hours, to school groups and visitors to other cultural events organised by Forma. “The usual reaction is one of surprise,” says Nigel. “It’s just so completely unexpected and joyful.”
Drought-tolerant plants
1. Dianthus carthusianorum
“I love the way this little perennial is already venturing out of the beds and making itself at home in the paths,” says Nigel. The single, pink flowers sit on wiry stems that emerge from a tight clump of narrow, green leaves. Height and spread: 60cm x 20cm. RHS H7†.
2. Dasylirion acrotrichum
The spiky, domed hemispheres of this evergreen succulent sub-shrub make such a statement in the garden. The leaves have hooked margins and terminal tufts, and it sends up a tall spike of white, star-shaped flowers in summer. 1.2m x 1m. RHS H2.
3. Sedum rupestre
Much hardier than it looks, this little plant makes an evergreen mat, throwing up tall stems of yellow flowers in summer. A prolific self-seeder, it can make itself at home in the tightest nooks and crannies. 15cm x 60cm. RHS H7, USDA 5a-8b.
4. Astelia chathamica
This evergreen perennial has attractive, silvery, sword-shaped leaves and is happy in sun or shade. Very low maintenance and tough – simply cut back hard if it succumbs to frost and it should grow back.
1.2m x 80cm. AGM*. RHS H3.
5. Ficus carica
Another tough-as-old-boots plant that, given sun, will romp away and look after itself entirely. The lobed leaves are attractive and edible (use as a flavouring rather than a foodstuff), as, of course, are the fruits. 3m x 4m. RHS H4, USDA 6a-9b.
6. Euphorbia mellifera
With its honey-scented flowers, and long, narrow, acid-green leaves, this large, domed shrub makes a striking talking point in the garden. May need winter protection in very cold gardens. 2m x 2m. AGM. RHS H3.
Useful information
Peveril Gardens is at 140 Great Dover Street, London SE1 4GW. Open Tuesdays – Fridays, 10.30am-5pm. Find out more about Nigel Dunnett’s work at nigeldunnett.com
