Rowland Byass – Landscape Architect

Project: Hounslow Pupil Referral Unit

Completion Date: June 2003

Location: Hounslow, Middlesex

The TURF project, co-ordinated by Orleans House Gallery in Twickenham, incorporated art, design and hands-on landscape and garden work, in a referral unit for 13-16 year old pupils excluded from secondary schools in the London borough of Hounslow.

Working with pupils and staff, I redesigned the garden, balancing the young people’s desires for a private outdoor space of their own with the need for staff to monitor behaviour. With help from me and a joiner for carpentry work, the garden was landscaped and planted by pupils.

Working with an artist, a mural incorporating designs by the pupils was made on one wall. In another corner, a shed with circular windows allowing visibility in and out gives pupils a semi-private space that can also be monitored from within the school building.