Children's hospital garden, Oxfordshire

  • Plan of overall site with children's garden and a public open space

    Plan of overall site with children's garden and a public open space - inspired by a coastal theme

  • Bird's eye sketch of the garden

    Sketch showing garden spaces from beach huts and teenager hangout to a boat in the toddler play space 

  • Sketch an underwater sea world throne and story corner

    Planting textures in aqua and purples echos the dynamic nature of the sea and wind

  • Plan of children's hospital garden

    Plan of children's hospital garden - unified rhythm of linear spaces 

  • Concept sketch for the garden - based on a previous building layout

    Concept sketch for the garden - based on a previous building layout

  • Timber groynes break up the expanse of sand in a rhythmic way

    Timber groynes break up the expanse of sand in a rhythmic way

  • Sketches from early design development

    Sketches from early design development - exploring how the rhythm of groynes could divide the garden

Children's hospital garden, Oxfordshire

A place of respite and healing within a children’s hospital. SBLD worked in collaboration with Carolyn Willitts Studio to design a garden whose character and layout was inspired by a coastal theme. Moving away from the hospital building, the layout echoes the relationship of a beach to the crashing waves of the sea.

A series of parallel lines reflects the timber sand barriers (groynes) found on beaches. These lines in the landscape vary from timber slatted seating walls and lines of vertical poles, to green paving bands. They create linear spaces giving the garden structure and a unified rhythm. Each space provides different flexible functions, suiting different ages: from a teenage hangout to a throne with an underwater sea world theme and a driftwood seating circle. The planting along the boundary is in silvers, blues and whites, with textures that echo the dynamic nature of the sea and wind.

Link to CW Studio