With the continuously expanding potential of our collective intelligence as a species, our progress has become exponential in the last century. From artificial intelligence to bioengineering, we have achieved feats the technicalities of which are largely difficult to comprehend. Despite that, it’s stupefying how a significant portion of the global population doesn’t have access to the most fundamental of our needs - clean water. The most alarming aspect of the water crisis is that, with worsening climate change, more and more people keep becoming vulnerable to problems that push back our collective progress. WaterAid Garden, a project that honours water as a precious resource, was commissioned by the international non-profit organisation, WaterAid, which works on providing clean water and sanitation to underprivileged classes and it was supported by the grant-making charity Project Giving Back. The garden was built through the collaborative efforts of the British landscape designer Tom Massey and UK-based Studio Weave’s founding director Je Ahn. Massey and Ahn had first collaborated to design 'The Hothouse', a pavilion at the London Design Festival 2020 and have partnered since for multiple projects, ranging from public parks and landscapes in and around the city of London.

With water being so easily accessible to first-world countries, it becomes essential to retain the water crisis as part of everyday conversations, to supplement the efforts to eradicate it. Design becomes a vital medium to engage potential change-makers in the discourse, essentially what the WaterAid Garden aims for. WaterAid asserts that 90 per cent of all-natural disasters are water-related—with more frequent flooding polluting water sources and droughts drying up the springs—making the climate crisis, a water crisis. While the environmental crisis pushes us against the challenge of an ever-changing climate, WaterAid Garden addresses it by focusing on sustainable water management and featuring a colourful array of plant species designed to deal with varying amounts of rainfall.  

The WaterAid garden was designed for the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Chelsea Flower Show at the Royal Hospital Grounds. The biomorphic centrepiece of the garden is a rainwater harvesting pavilion inspired by WaterAid’s work with communities around the world to develop sustainable water solutions. Formed of a bent rebar skeleton and clad with weathering steel, it was 3D-modelled digitally—dividing the form into 299 elements—and then CNC-cut and hand-moulded into the organic shape. The pavilion was designed using reclaimed materials and engineered to be remarkably lean for a lighter carbon footprint. The landscape architecture harvests rainwater, filtering and storing it for drinking and irrigating whilst also slowing the flow to avoid erosion and provide shade. The garden’s steel deck is permeable—allowing water, plants and wildlife to move beneath. The timber seats and deck are made from wind-felled trees and reclaimed stone is used for seating. Alongside the pavilion, different elements such as depressions, swales and channels are integrated into the landscape to retain water more efficiently which further attracts wildlife and creates an ecological system, while also preventing flooding.

A team of 42 individuals came together to co-create the WaterAid Garden, including structural engineers, metal workers, designers, landscapers, nursery growers and water feature specialists. The planting is designed to sustain seasonal wet and dry conditions. The garden was the home to the tallest trees at the Chelsea Flower Show 2024—approximately 16m tall and chosen for its adaptability to varying weather. Alder wood hardens in water and can survive submerged. The roots have nodules that capture nitrogen, improving soil fertility and absorbing toxic heavy metals from the ground, thus helping to restore waste industrial land. The garden is also home to a dozen unusual plants, including Eriocephalus africanus, which is Indigenous to South Africa, and, more common in the UK—the Red Yucca—with its ability to take extremes of cold whilst being tolerant to drought conditions.

Describing the process and its intended outcome, British Designer Tom Massey says, “This has been an exciting and mammoth undertaking, creating a garden that not only looks striking but demonstrates how clean water changes lives and how innovation can help us adapt to an unpredictable future. As our climate changes, water scarcity and insecurity are becoming more commonplace—here in the UK and around the world. I hope everyone who visits the garden gains a real sense of the importance of sustainable water management and what’s possible when we all come together.”

The WaterAid Garden will be relocated to the Castlefield Viaduct in Manchester, where it will continue functioning as a rainwater harvester and inspire more people to think about sustainable water management. The relocation is intended to begin in October 2024, with construction commencing in February 2025 and welcoming visitors to the newly enhanced Viaduct in the summer of 2025. The garden will stand at the entrance of the Victorian-era Grade II listed steel viaduct in the heart of Manchester, which was opened as a sky park by the National Trust in 2022, providing vital green space and helping preserve part of the city’s industrial heritage.

The garden employs screw piles, avoiding the use of virgin concrete at the show. Due to the design considerations, the relocation plan is anticipated to create almost no waste. Commenting on the overarching aim of the project, Ahn says, “The garden brings a message of hope, showing how resilience and innovation can help us all to adapt and flourish in the face of the climate crisis. I’m looking forward to seeing our garden have a lasting impact in its final home in the north of England and inspiring a new generation to be more water-wise.”

The garden highlights a cultural shift in the way landscape design is perceived by architects and designers—not as mere ornamentation but as a necessary integration within our built spaces. Perhaps, designers must move away from being creators to facilitators, allowing nature to step in and take over without trying to micromanage every visual detail.

Project Details

Name: WaterAid Garden
Location: London, United Kingdom 
Architect: Je Ahn, Studio Weave
Landscape Designer: Tom Massey
Year of Completion: 2023