This project is a dry stone passage that was built in a garden in Belsize Park, London for a pianist and writer. The brief included a division of two spaces within the garden that would provide privacy within a secret garden beyond a wall. The proposed design was a passageway with a lintel that would be overgrown with plants in years to come. The design also included a few openings for plants to grow within the wall. We researched alpine flowers, ferns, mosses, and lichen that would be suitable for the wall, without causing structural damage. This new wall would allow the viewer to only see through the opening, while the vegetation would be a lush boundary to the garden room.

 

The construction of the wall followed the standard technical building princples of a typical dry stone wall. The ground was dug up and a stone foundation placed. A batter was achieved through the construction of two wooden A-frames and stones were placed aligned to the stretched line. Throughstones were placed throughout the wall to tie the two faces together and far reashing quoins were placed along the corners to help tie the cheek ends into the wall. The top course was mortared in place with lime mortar to ensure the lintel and top stones would not move with time. Lime mortar is known to crack less with fluctuating tempertures and to dry out more quickly. This ensures that the stones can dry out too, thereby reducing the risk of splintering along the layers of sedimentation. 

 

The passageway was built with reclaimed yorkstone, reclaimed brick, and roof tiles from the Woodlands Farm Reclamation in Surrey, UK. Since the stones had been used for previous projects, there were chisel marks and carved geometries that were visible in the sandstones. Some had been carved to act as window sills, others contained holes for previous purposes. A stone with a compass was also found on site. Together these create a rich layer of stories, yet to be told.