This project required a complete redesign of the entrance area of Gunnersbury Triangle and to design three interventions within the nature reserve. 

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The entrance to the site was off a main road and was fairly unassuming.  It would be easy to walk past and not know that it was even there.  It also felt like something of a car park inside the welcome area. 

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I wanted to design an entrance to the park that could not be missed, whilst also taking the parking space outside the park itself.  The gravel parking area breaks up the pavement for passersby and signposts the park itself, planted with ornamental red-stemmed willow, reflecting the willow carr woodland found inside the park itself.  

Gabon walls and pleached hawthorn hedging screen the road and railway from the park, creating a feeling of escape from the urban environment immediately outside the park and a transition to the wildness of the woodland in the park itself.  

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Inside the welcome area, there are three canopied buildings providing shelter from the elements, cafe area and office space for the volunteers and permanent staff.  All the plants found in the welcome area are either found in the park itself, or are interesting cultivars of plants found in the park, giving visitors a taste of what is to come and an opportunity to educate visitors on the importance of the vegetation that they will see in the park.