Royal Holloway Collegeurban orchard

A new democratic outdoor space that acts as a meeting place for all students and staff in this multiple faculty university.

The visually strong landscape design of blossoming fruit trees has links to the eighteenth century use of the site as the ‘Long Orchard’. When the college was built the orchard was retained for the enjoyment of the students and as a resource for fruit growing but is now in decline.

The design makes a destination of the outdoor space, moving on from being unwanted or leftover areas. The fruit trees flow through the spaces between the buildings, a new orchard that keeps the college users in touch with the changing seasons.

Fruit trees also grow out of an area paved with glass aggregate and to the south slopes a wildflower meadow. The meadow is retained by a gabion stone wall with seating and alpine planting.