Studio

Christopher is one of the world’s most influential landscape designers. He is particularly interested in contextual, and textural, approaches to landscape expressed in the creative combination of materials, details and innovative planting. A substantial part of his work has been framed by the historic grain of buildings and landscapes - a new courtyard alongside the Queen Anne Pallant House Gallery and its modern wing; two new London squares – one adjacent to Hanover Square as part of Crossrail, one created from the historic Arsenal pitch at Highbury; a new entrance and arrival for the showpiece garden at RHS Wisley; the sensitive restoration and development of 500 acres of historic parkland in Henley on Thames. In addition to a series of private estates and gardens, projects include Oxford and Cambridge Colleges including Emmanuel College Cambridge and St Edmund Hall and Rhodes House Oxford.

Public projects for the BBC, Arsenal Football Club, Portland Castle, Stanislavsky Theatre Moscow and the landscape for the Stirling Prize Winning Sainsbury Laboratory in Cambridge Botanic Garden have been followed, currently, by three pioneering office developments, with external greening and extensive public realm, in the City of London’s financial district.

Contemporaneous iconic designs, including gardens made at the Chelsea Flower Show (6 Gold Medals), and his bestselling books, the minimalist garden and Making the Modern Garden, have had a far-reaching impact on the way contemporary design and naturalistic planting has developed. He has lectured extensively on his work across the USA, Australia, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Russia and China.

Ed’s expertise in design development and project leadership skills are essential in guiding many of our multi-disciplinary projects. He has a diverse portfolio of projects in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, working on projects in the public and private sectors, particularly Higher Education and Research.

He works at all scales and quickly engages with the project to identify opportunities and landscape-led, holistic solutions. Notable successes include the John Henry Brookes Building at Oxford Brookes University, which won regional RIBA awards and was entered on the 2014 Stirling Prize mid-list. More recently, his work at the University of Winchester gained recognition from the Landscape Institute, winning the Institute’s award for Landscape Design in 2022. He has also overseen projects in central London, specialising in the greening of buildings, including the public roof garden at 120 Fenchurch Street.

Ed is an active member of the Landscape Institute and participates on Landscape Institute Award judging panels.

Brita von Schoenaich, DipHort Kew, CMLI is a founding director of Bradley-Hole Schoenaich. She trained as a landscape architect and horticulturist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and was one of London’s early guerilla gardeners. She developed special expertise in urban vegetation strategies and has for decades promoted highly sustainable naturalistic planting concepts. Much of her work has focused on landscapes associated with educational colleges and institutions, with award-winning projects at St Paul’s and King’s Schools Canterbury, Newnham College and the Sainsbury Laboratory in Cambridge’s botanic gardens. Other commissions have centred on new buildings in historic settings, ranging from National Trust, and English Heritage landscapes to Oxbridge colleges and private gardens. Her expertise in development in sensitive sites has been called upon in public inquiries.

Brita has also worked internationally, with projects completed in Italy, Germany, Poland and China. Outside her practice she has lectured and adjudicated at universities, and has spoken at international conferences. She has directed the landscape design course at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew for over a decade. Recently she was a judge at the World Architecture Festival, and is a member of the RIBA Awards Committee, the panel that selects the Stirling shortlist.