Tropical Garden Design

Uncountable praises have been garnered by the island of Bali, from paradise on earth to the island of gods. The beauty of Bali’s nature and richness of its culture are undisputable. Many consider the island as a source of knowledge as well as a place to gain knowledge and amazing inspiration. Many foreign artists, and writers admit Bali as a small island in the tropics that exudes captivating power and spiritual energy.

This strong spiritual energy of Bali attracted Australian-born architect who then decided to become a Balinese. Made Wijaya, a name that leads people to guess that the owner of the name must have come from Bali, but he was born Michael White and has studied architecture in Sydney. Wijaya came to Bali in 1973. Initially he came for a vacation, but then fell in love throughly with the island and settled in Bali until now.

In a book entitled Tropical Garden Design, Wijaya showcases “collection” of hundreds tropical garden design that are very interesting. In his work, Wijaya highlights poetic and romantic traits, as well as natural one. His inspirations including parks in the Cotswolds, a small town near Oxford, England, that are designed in natural style and then combined with the results of learning in various places, including traditional architecture of Southeast Asia. From Balinese, Wijaya claimed to learn how to be Feudal, which is useful when working on large projects, as well as animistic, a belief that a place has its own spirit. In addition, the ability to observe, absorb, and adopt something from the outside.

A garden is not just a collection of individual plants. Good garden, in any style, must have a supporting architecture and landscape background, and create a story involving the elements in it, a pond, walkways, accents, garden furniture, and lighting, for example.

Wijaya uses culture as a reference to avoid shallowness in his garden. For him, it is important to see the garden in the context of the culture of a society. He saw many architects and garden designers ended up being too commercial, stiff in design, full of exaggeration in decorations, or create a work that does not come as natural work of art.

Made Wijaya has produced more than 700 works. Most of the gardens are for the hotel, such as the Oberoi Hotel in Bali, Hyatt Regency Hotel in Surabaya, Amandari Ubud, Four Seasons Resort Bali, Santika Beach Bali, as well as several hotels in India and Malaysia. He also worked on Naples Botanical Garden in Florida, United States; Kaliyil Eco Tourism, India and the People’s Amusement Park in Kediri, East Java. Many private residences in Jakarta, Bali, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and India have his signature in their garden, including home of the singer, David Bowie, in Mustique, West Indies.

In his book, his friends dubbed his work as “theatrical nature”. The nickname “arranged forest” and “creepy” are two terms that are commonly used to describe his work. Wijaya emphasized the importance of a garden designer to take into account the balance of the plants, love for nature, and learning to “create” nature. Observe plant growth under different soil and lighting conditions is just a half of the great art of garden design in any climate. The balance is the key word, completeness, harmony with nature and environment (balance between man-made and natural). A garden, wrote Wijaya in his book, has the same value with its theatrical appeal.

Made Wijaya’s book is truly inspiring, supported by top-class illustrations, sketches and drawings from Chang Huai-Yan, and photos by the international photographers including Tim Street-Porter, Luca Invernizzi Tettoni, Rio Helmi, Tara Sastrowardoyo, Jerry Harpur and Reto Guntli. The book is freely divided into several themes by Wijaya based on his collections, such as “tropical Cotsworlds”, “runscape period”, “bleu Majorelle” and “cozy courtyard “. Source of references used in this book are very interesting and beautiful, coupled with the explanation from the writers on the history and architecture perspective. This book can be a hand out that provides resources and guidance to professional as well as scores of suggestions and solution for better results.

TROPICAL GARDEN DESIGN
by Made Wijaya,
Archipelago Press 1999, 2003,
ISBN 978-981-4068-91-8,
208 pages

This book could be found at Komaneka Fine Art Gallery.