Garden design of the Provost’s Garden for an Oxford College.
Client
Queens College Oxford
Location
Oxford
Collaboration
with MICA Architects
Date
2014-2018
The Provost’s Garden is a private Oxford College garden bounded by medieval walls and an Indigo Jones Library acting as the fourth wall.
The extension of the Library underground means that this college garden was redesigned to respect the needs of the role of the Provost, the College itself and the setting of both the Lodgings and the Library.
Queens College has the great formality of the front and back quads but beyond the formal buildings the Provost’s Garden forms one of three more informal and planted gardens; the balance to the more austere palette of grass and stone.
The challenge was to create a design that is effectively a green roof but has the feeling of a garden whilst being truthful about what lies beneath.
Jeremy Rye 