Research Garden DesignBrowse photos, get design ideas & see the hottest plants
Corten — or weathering steel — is typically used for landscaping and outdoor building . It is made with alloys that induce its surface to evolve aself - protect rustwhen exposed to weather . The insulating patina resists erosion , demand no painting or atmospheric condition - proofing , and does n’t compromise geomorphological strength .
In his own Hertfordshire , Britain garden , decorator Tom Stuart - Smith erect a Corten wall and picked up its red tones withAstrantia’Claret . ' Photo by : Marianne Majerus / MMGI .
Landscape designer apprize Corten for more than its warm hue . broadly available in sheet and plate soma , its strength and lastingness combined with minimal thickness ( typically 3/16 or 1/4 of an in ) allows it to serve in office where a concrete wall , for instance , would not fit or would visually overwhelm its environment . Corten has been used forwalls , edgings , dividers , planters , logic gate trim , and arbors ; indeed , its versatility seems to be limited only by the designer ’s vision .
Dallas landscape architect David Hocker state , “ I love steel ’s agrarian aesthetic ; it ’s so redolent of miles of steel fencing and pole barns . ” In Walnut Creek , California , Joe Huettl rave about a mesmerizing juxtaposition in one of his project that use “ swaying ‘ Karl Foerster ’ feather reed grass to backdrop the steady , solid quality of Corten steel walls . ” And in London , justice of the renowned RHS Chelsea Flower Show much drool over the 2010The Daily Telegraphgarden installing designed by Andy Sturgeon , which won Best in Show and conspicuously have sculptural Corten screens .
The chairwoman of judges , Michael Balston , was said to call it a clear-cut favourite among the contender . “ There are some that grab you a bit more and Andy ’s did for most of us , ” Balston toldThe Guardianat the time . “ It has a superb moral force as you walk around it and different horizon are revealed . ”The Daily Telegraphitself gush over the use of Corten as a foil for the planting . “ The purples of salvia and aquilegia are the perfect sultry complement to the [ steel ’s ] copper and bronze , ” wrote garden editorialist Stephen Lacey .
give its no - frills , midcentury industrial flavour , Corten fits most well into modern-day garden plans . Hocker , for example , rely on weathered steel extensively when he turned an previous baron place combine into a individual city garden . In one plane section , a low edging of plate steel creates a slightly raised buffalo - grass - covered plinth that sets off an adjacent single mesquite tree like a living sculpture . “ blade has a nice , slight visibility without the bulkiness of a concrete wall , ” Hocker says . “ And in this undertaking , it recalls the site ’s industrial past times . ”
For this Austin , Texas , guest , LandWest Design Group enlist almost 3 tons of Corten steel . pic by : Jon Whittle .
Where Hocker ’s approach is one of restraint , Sturgeon dominated the Chelsea Flower Show by constructing playful , see - through , individual - high fences of Corten steel that subdivided and framed a collecting of colorful Mediterranean flora .
For his own Napa Valley , California , garden , landscape painting architect Jack Chandler used steel plates for his gate , retaining walls , and staircase riser . The resulting look is functional and architectural , but its earthy key also links it to the grasses and grape vine of the wine nation . Just like the terra firma , Corten is not at all monochrome . Subtle shadings give it a depth and a sense of vital force — a admonisher , perhaps , that it is a active and not unchanging fabric .
In a Moraga , California , garden , Huettl ’s firm carved sheets of 4- by 8 - foot Corten into walls , dividers , and seating . It used three Corten panel , spaced a foot asunder , to forge a backdrop and privacy concealment breast by two floating lambert - contour ipe benches . To create a low bulwark at the boundary of the lawn , 2 - foot - high Corten control panel alternated with low stucco walls — the rusty whole step nicely offset the gray-headed - green of the stucco , Huettl enunciate .
For a steeply graded San Francisco garden that required earthquakeproof stability and a zigzagged staircase to relieve the homeowner ’s ancestry , landscape painting fashion designer James A. Lord and Roderick Wyllie of Surface Design devised a series of trapezoidal steel boxes that edged the flights of stairs ; distinguish play areas from entertaining areas ; and had triangular planter set into their summit , intend to be viewed from the business firm above . Lord suppose the homeowners especially appreciate how the boxful ’ bold shapes and strong colors cite the carving of Richard Serra .
Just as it ’s impossible to identify the genius who first enlisted this railcar fabric in service to the garden , no one can say how many of its bright applications will show up in the future . We do n’t know , but we ca n’t await to see .
The chronicle of CortenU. S. Steel developed the product in the 1930s and trademarked it as Cor - Ten ; it was used primarily in railroad coal wagons . Corten became a go - to material for mod architecture and outdoor fine art in the 1950s and 1960s ; it can be see in such projects as the exoskeletal Ford Foundation Building in New York City and the 160 - gross ton Picasso carving on Chicago ’s Daley Plaza . After the Eero Saarinen - designed John Deere World Headquarters in Moline , Illinois , was nail in 1964 , local observer approvingly compared its gross colouring material to new treat soil — eminent congratulations from the heartland . Corten is just as popular today — see the facades of so many southwesterly - style intellectual nourishment franchises .
To see more illustration of how the designers mentioned in this story comprise weathered steel into landscapes , go to their websites ( see below ) .
Resources : To see more from the designer featured , chew the fat their internet site : David Hocker ( davidhocker.com ) , Joe Huettl ( huettldesign.com ) , Andy Sturgeon ( andysturgeon.com ) , Jack Chandler ( chandler2.com ) , Surface Design Inc. ( sdisf.com ) , LandWest Design Group ( landwestdg.com ) , Lucy Redman ( lucyredman.co.uk ) , and Tom Stuart - Smith ( www.tomstuartsmith.co.uk ) .
See More Gardens That Incorporate Corten Steel
