Nugent Manufacturing Limited
Avatar inspired show garden at Chelsea Flower Show
Inspired by Oscar winning Dublin animator Richie Baneham who created the visual effects for Avatar; by the colourful artistic interpretations of Cork's Midsummer Festival of the Senses (with water to dazzle, entertain and reflect) the garden is a flying machine, hanging Eden and reflective launch pad. On the ground it is green and full of water, with 27 pools, flowing or reflecting the craft above. A dynamic Cor-Ten steel path meanders through the garden, over pools and under mature trees, kissing circular Cor-Ten steel patios. Diarmuid Gavin's flying garden was a highlight of the Royal Horticultural Society's 2011 Chelsea Flower show where it was launched, now it takes pride of place at the Cork Midsummer Festival, following that it will find a permanent home within a 2.5 hectare park currently being designed for Cork City Council.
A drawingless approval process
The original design was completed in Revit and the exported IFC file was shared at tender stage to speed up the tendering process. The IFC file was also imported into Tekla software where we used it to give reference points for our model. Utilising Tekla we shared BIM models in IFC format with Arup and had a drawingless approval process, the only drawings produced by us is a detail of the sample framework for the client to approve the set out of the planting crates. We also added further value to the project when we contacted a specialist haulage contractor to have the pod delivered from our workshop in county Kildare to Chelsea as a single piece thereby reducing the need for a second transport frame and truck.
Following meetings with the client, we were asked to price and subsequently fabricate the circular ponds and the ribbon Cor-Ten Steel walkway. For the ponds we used the dished ends usually seen on pressure vessels and tanks as we could purchase these complete and without affecting our schedule for the pod. The Cor-Ten Steel walkway was inspired by a company logo that Diarmuid Gavin saw on his travels and using Tekla software we were able to create an elliptical profile that in plan view showed as a double parabolic arc, this was then overlaid by the stock 6m x 2m Cor-Ten Steel sheets and used to define a contour plate within Tekla. We then sent CAD files for the plates to be plasma cut and the finished sheets were then stiffened by welding an open grid flooring to them. The entire project was delivered to site on time and on budget and has been a great success for Diarmuid Gavin who won a coveted RHS Gold Medal for this garden. The project value was 150,000 Euros.
