DTR Associates Inc.
Judges' Special Award
DTR Associates Inc. of Aurora wanted to push the horticulture envelope at the 2005 Cleveland Botanical Garden Flower Show. So they decided to bring the indoors outside with a temporary living exhibit of a home made from plant material.
The exhibit was designed to evoke conversation and contrast the chaos of the outside world with the tranquility within the home. The use of plant materials and construction techniques in nontraditional ways created the foundation.
Sod walls created a backdrop for the exhibit and also defined the individual rooms of the house. The structure included a kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom and bathroom. Plant material used in the peripheral areas was chosen to represent the turmoil of the outside, while soft layers of plantings were used inside the home to represent calmness.
Decking with a border of turf, limestone banding and river stone gravel create a floor pattern that is repeated throughout the display.
A garden entry suggests a front entrance to the home. Sod mounds create a sense of privacy and protection from the outside. The focal point of the exhibit is a water feature. A floating tile floor represents the front entryway.
In the kitchen, a sheered taxus hicksii hedge represents the kitchen table. The image of the table is completed with a bowl of fruit. Wooly thyme and santolina form the impression of a tiled kitchen floor.
Chairs are pruned out of three different sizes of taxus hicksii. A dining room carpet was designed out of artificial turf, dwarf liriope, creeping jenny and decorative mirrors.
In the bathroom, a bathmat illustrates the intricacies of the plantings. Wooly thyme and hens and chicks varieties create a pattern for the bathroom rug. A local artist designed a chandelier for the dining room and glasswork for the bathroom. A bed and pillow created from sod serve as highlight, as does a bed quilt made from Irish moss.
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