The Belgian garden duo, Bart & Pieter, is simply known by their first names. With their intuitive and pragmatic approach, they design lush and natural gardens, most often in urban settings like secluded backyards, patios or high perched rooftops. To add another green dimension in the Bautier building, they were asked to design the new rooftop patio, a small outdoor space to be enjoyed both from the inside and outside. We’ve talked to Bart to get to know more about their work.
Recently, in December, you came to Brussels to install a new rooftop garden at Bautier. Looking over your recent portfolio, I see a lot of rooftop gardens. Are Belgians suddenly becoming more aware of that type of garden or is it just your particular strength?
It’s probably a mix of the two. We used to get a lot of different demands but nowadays we’re mainly asked to do rooftop gardens, and they are our preferred projects too. To create large residential gardens, you need much more time and a lot of materials; a rooftop garden you can create in a week. We really like the swiftness of it. You start with nothing and in no time, you are able to create a big change. We get a kick out of that sudden transformation. You see the plants at the nursery and soon after, they’re flying through the air on a crane, you install the different layers and then you have a garden. It’s also rewarding for us to see the effect the change has on our clients; afterwards they often ask themselves why they didn’t install the garden much earlier. Working in urban environments, the change from grey to green is really impressive. That’s why we like to call them show gardens; they have that wow-effect.
If I understood correctly, you’re working as a duo, just the two of you?
Yes, that’s right. Of course, we have people around us sometimes, helping out with the cranes and the heavier part of the job, but most of the work we do ourselves, the design and the installation. For maintenance, we always refer to a colleague, a very capable gardener. It’s important to keep up the maintenance to offer the plants the best conditions. For big gardens you need to do a lot of digging and replanting which means you’re also dependent on other people and big machines. We like our independence and therefore working on smaller projects like rooftop gardens makes sense for us.
Today, the two of you have worked together for almost three decades. Could you give us a look into how it all started?
We’ve been together as a couple for 31 years and worked together for 28 years. Pieter studied industrial design and I didn’t finish my studies. Instead, I ended up working in the flower business for florists. After a while, I thought it was a pity to work with decorations which would only last about a week so I got into the bigger world of plants and followed an evening course in landscape design for a couple of years. Both Pieter and I were amazed by plants as kids and when we met, we each had a large collection of succulents and cacti which meant we had to build a common greenhouse when we moved in together. We started out working on small garden projects and slowly we’ve grown our business, now being able to take on the projects which really inspire us. Having had our projects published in magazines has also been a great help. Pieter’s dad is an architect and Pieter helped him in the office when he was younger which makes him good at drawing plans. I’m slightly more chaotic in my approach so we complement each other well. What’s important at the beginning of your career is to just say yes. Take on the projects that you’re offered and you’ll learn and grow your skills. This is the only way to get experienced and, after a while, confident in what you do. And then you start getting experimental too.
How do your experiments unfold?
The general knowledge about plants and materials have developed so much during the past 20 years, and ours too, so we’re constantly learning and experimenting with new plants and soil. Nowadays, we only work with volcanic soil, like in Marina’s rooftop garden. Volcanic soil doesn’t sink, it keeps its volume, it’s much lighter, and it keeps the roots cool and oxygenised. Since 2015, we own a house in Menorca and we go there a lot; it’s part of our lifestyle of living and working independently. In Menorca, we have an experimental garden where we test different plant schemes and we like to bring some of them further north to Belgium. With those plants you can create a different vibe and some of them grow very well up here.
Talking about plant schemes, could you tell us more about the intervention you’ve done at Bautier, both in the backyard and in the new patio upstairs?
In the backyard, the transformation wasn’t so big as there was already a small garden. We kept it simple but did plant new trees, shrubs and bamboo. We used some Swiss eternit pots for the terrace which holds wintergreens and the bamboo. Normally, we do not use many pots; we prefer to see the plants grow directly out of the ground which also allows for the roots to grow further and the plants to mingle. For me, pots make more sense in a closed environment with a quiet ambience, like in a Barragan villa in Mexico or on a rooftop in Marrakesh. Just one tree in a pot can have a great effect. The natural look is what we aim at though, not having to look at some vertical element. It’s better for the plant roots and for biodiversity. It welcomes more life.
For the rooftop garden, we also kept a rather simple approach as this is what Marina prefers. Marina is specific about what she likes and this is interesting to us as her brief is quite clear. Of course, we can discuss back and forth about the choice of plants but that’s only a pleasure for us; we like not always doing the same thing. Marina isn’t interested in creating a statement with her garden, it should have more of a homey feel, a garden which can look good all year around with some different colours and textures depending on the season. We needed to create some shade as the closed patio can get very warm in the summertime and to do that, we used yucca and fig trees. On the ground you have flagstone pavement and small plants like bellflowers, cyclamen and myrtle spurge growing in between. We used some Mediterranean plants here as they like the south orientation and don’t need so much soil, like lavender and rosemary. We also planted more native plants like genista, hydrangea and small-leafed shrubs and a beautiful mix of perennials like aster, geranium and iris.
Through your job, do you feel an increasing appreciation of greenery and the garden/landscape design profession?
We collaborate with a lot of architects and we do see how important our particular input and expertise is in a project. The architects are not trained to think of plants in the same way, that’s normal. Where an interior architect would install a curtain to create more privacy, we would think of an exterior plant instead, if possible. Having a view on something green and natural, especially in the cities, changes the living experience. In many cases, it also makes the interior spaces feel even bigger. Our job is often to hide or cover an ugly view. You might live in a beautiful penthouse but perhaps you’re looking directly at an ugly building or installation. Apartments are often too hot in the summertime, also in Belgium, and with plants you can create a much cooler indoor climate thanks to bamboo or a pergola for example.
In a bigger perspective, we see changes in some of the surrounding cities; it depends on the culture I would say. In Antwerp, there’s a tendency to make everything look very clean which isn’t the best basis for a green city. Plants can look messy and some of them leave dead leaves on the ground. But with the current climate changes, it’s obvious that more plants and trees are needed to create shade and more comfortable living environments, both for humans and for nature. It’s even easy and cheap to install. In cities like Amsterdam and Berlin, they really understood this. We do feel strongly about this and we’ve participated in public competitions in the past and also designed some museum gardens, but in the long run, if you wish to succeed in the public field, you need a big office which is not our cup of tea. We have chosen to stay small and independent, making rapid and striking changes.
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Pictures by Stephanie De Smet