A Bit too Brutal for my Taste

A sombre hideaway

I loved the garden designed by James Wong and David Cubero for Tourism Malaya last year, but this year’s offering looks like the sort of place a James Bond villain would have as his jungle hideaway.  Sombre, urban brutalist structures surrounded by lush planting and water running over dark stones, it is a very masculine garden – which is maybe why I was not so keen on it.  I longed for some contrast – or even a bit of Diarmuid theatricality – maybe a wall sliding back to reveal a large screen with the villain broadcasting a menacing message  threatening to steal the contents of the Millenium Seed Bank!

A very masculine garden