Flower Jam 2018
International Landscape and Garden Design Competition in Moscow
Location: Moskova
Year: 2018
• Project design
In addition to the competition theme, the garden was required to have plenty of seating areas. I designed my exhibition garden to accommodate at least twenty people in various seating spots. Its location in a schoolyard provided the opportunity to hold school lessons in my garden. In recent years, I had become interested in diagonal lines, and since I rarely had the chance to implement them in my regular landscape design work in Finland, I wanted to use this garden to showcase my skills in a more diverse way. I believe exhibition gardens offer designers a great opportunity to demonstrate their broad expertise—expertise that is difficult to showcase in typical client projects.
The theme of my garden was expressed through a pink and purple color palette combined with various shades of gray. The name of my project became “Dance of Polygons.” I did not know the future location of the garden, so the surrounding environment remained a mystery to me until construction had already begun. The 3D rendering of my design was created by my Russian colleague Olga Gromadskaya, who assisted the event organizers.
My garden could accommodate at least 20 people.
• Dance Of Polygons
This was my first exhibition garden project abroad, and it took place at the Moscow Flower Jam Festival. It is both a festival and a competition, and in terms of the number of projects, visitors, and exhibition space, it is the world's largest design competition in our field. The competition is intended for professionals and students alike. I applied for the competition by invitation, which I received from Elena Markitantova, a Russian international relations coordinator and interpreter based in St. Petersburg. The competition was held for only the second time in 2018. The number of participants was enormous, and more than 1,200 gardens were built across Moscow. Some gardens were even copied in multiple locations, with up to ten replicas. According to rumors, this was due to the upcoming mayoral elections. The goal was to ensure the citizens' satisfaction, and it was believed that the gardens would contribute to their well-being. The theme of the competition was “Bright Colors,” as it was thought to bring joy and delight both visually and emotionally. All festival expenses were covered by the City of Moscow. In addition to exhibition gardens, the city was decorated with floral displays during the festival weeks.
In this first competition of mine, my work did not make it to the final round, but since the jury saw potential in it, they wanted it to be built as a special project, meaning it was constructed under the “Special Projects” category. Along with my work, a few other international projects selected by the jury, as well as projects designed by the jury members themselves, were included in this category.
• Construction and Modifications
I had originally submitted a design covering 168 m², but at the request of the organizers, I had to downsize it to fit within a 100 m² area. Although the core idea was preserved, some structural elements had to be altered in shape and size.
The construction process itself was relatively smooth, thanks to skilled professionals. The most significant and visible change during construction was the color scheme of the paving bricks, which did not match my original plan and had a major impact on the final appearance. The plant selection was my biggest concern at the time because, as a first-time participant, I could not understand why my planned plant selections were not being delivered to my garden. Instead, I had to visit nurseries multiple times to reselect plants, often requiring long hours of travel. The new planting plan was finalized on-site in my garden, just one day before the deadline.
• Team and Division of Work
A structural engineer was responsible for ensuring the durability of my garden structures. All my drawings were translated into Russian by the event organizers. Before purchasing construction materials, I received a drawing from the engineer confirming that they had correctly understood my structures and that we agreed on the construction method. The location of my garden was in a difficult-to-access area, making it very challenging for me to monitor and oversee the construction process. The foreman of my team, as well as the other people working on my project, were involved in multiple garden constructions simultaneously. They moved between different sites at random, and I was unable to reach them during these periods. This was a challenge for me as a first-time participant because, as a Finn, I was used to strict schedules and well-organized processes. However, I quickly learned the meaning of the Russian saying, “In Russia, things don’t always go the way you want, but everything gets done in the end.”
• Awards
The head judge of the competition was the world-renowned garden designer James Basson, who has won numerous exhibition garden competitions throughout his career. He has won four gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show and many other awards from national and international competitions worldwide (Scape Design, n.d.).
He also had his own Special Project, the ‘Maia Plisetskaya – Carmen’ garden, located in Moscow’s old town district, which became a permanent landmark showcasing his expertise. During the summer of 2018, I got to know James well, and he remains a major source of inspiration, a mentor, and a valuable contact for me in the international market. I have met him multiple times in different countries at various events.<br><br>
Since my first competition project did not make it to the final round, I was not eligible for any official awards. However, I received an honorary award from the Russian Association of Landscape Architects for my work. This award was presented to me by the Flower Jam organizers later that fall at an international landscape architecture seminar in Bergamo, Italy. The seminar, “I Maestri del Paesaggio,” is one of the most significant events in our field worldwide, and I have attended it multiple times. The event attracts some of the most prominent and successful colleagues and artists in the industry. Getting to know them has been one of the most rewarding experiences of these seminars.
All pictures from competition
