We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Fernando Pozuelo about their original and creative Private Garden design work. Fernando Pozuelo is an award-winning architectural designer, that makes our world a better place with their original private garden works.
Fernando Pozuelo ("FP") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Ryad Private Garden. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
FP : Our main wager was recreating the owners' dream; Spanish citizens, with deep Hispanic roots which they do not want to forget, their aim was to enjoy the tranquility, the light, color and aromas typical to a Nazari garden. This lead us to think of a unique garden, creating a gorgeous compound, housing this delicate mixture between Hispanic and Muslim cultures, as a symbol of Peace among them.
FP : We faced the challenge of modernizing an old country house and turn it into a realm of peace and quiet, which we did by comprehensively working both on the architectural and landscape areas. We renewed the façade, did civil work on the pavings and the swimmimg pool and built retaining walls, creating new forge ironworks for the archways, walls and fences. Gardening, irrigation and the reservoir, as well as lightning, furniture and accessories were also comprehensively delt with.
FP : This garden was a dream come true for the owners. The team of Fernando Pozuelo, firm believers in the power of dreams themselves, rest assured that this particular dream was fully achieved, not merely through aesthetics and harmony: a landscape symbolizing peace between two cultures through beauty has been created.
FP : Leaving aside the technical aspects of the work, we must emphasize that the whole complex is embedded by our literary narrative, a story in which the proprietors play an essential part, hence achieving the final goal of our work: that the estate and the project conform a lasting legacy.
FP : The name «Ryad» was chosen because, in Arabic, it means garden, a pleasant, peaceful place, and oasis where there are little creeks, where there is water, where there is health and life.
FP : We decided to design a classic cross-shaped pattern; this was repeated on the lighting structures (arabic light-beacons, hanging lamps and backlighted archways, in a dialogue with epigraphic inscriptions resembling the Kufic from the Alhambra) that also appear in the bas-relieves placed on the forge retaining walls, adding a Classic Renaissance structure with a lawn area in the shape of a cross and with a Nazari canal along it, and we built different axis points, in order to get different perspectives of the garden.
FP : We found big holm oaks on the state but the house was on a lower level, so we decided to divide the work in both levels; this way, the lower one would serve for the home needs -enlarged by the distinct panoramic set by the ditch extending from east to west- and left the upper level as spare garden and miscellaneous use area, setting the focus on three lamp towers (Almenaras) between 9 and 15 feet high each.
