The award-winning Guangzhou Garden was created by drawing on the Chinese port city's ecological philosophy. CHINA DAILY

For landscape architects Peter Chmiel and Chen Chin-Jung, their design, The Guangzhou Garden, carried an environmental message about biodiversity and the future of landscape cities when it was on display at this year's Chelsea Flower Show in London.

Awarded a gold medal and Best Show Garden at the prestigious competition, it was the first time the pair, representing Bath-based landscape architecture business Grant Associates, had applied their craft to designing a show garden.

The Guangzhou Garden: Guangzhou China takes its inspiration from Guangzhou, a port city northwest of Hong Kong on China's Pearl River.

Chmiel, a director at Grant Associates, said the flower show was a great platform to showcase what Guangzhou has to offer.

"Guangzhou as a city has done some great work in terms of environmental strategy, particularly in air quality, in the last few years and I think it's really important to look at every platform that you can to encourage other cities to follow this example," Chmiel said.

The Guangzhou Garden has one of the largest volumes of water ever to feature in a Chelsea show garden, as well as numerous plant species and aquatic designs on display.

Grant Associates said the Chinese-inspired garden pays homage to Guangzhou's philosophy, which gives equal consideration to the needs of people and wildlife, through sustainable city planning strategies, reconnecting people and nature in a mutually beneficial relationship.

The award-winning design was created on behalf of China-based culture project consultancy Creativersal and the Administration of Forestry and Gardening of Guangzhou Municipality.

Landscape architects Peter Chmiel and Chin Chin-Jung won a top prize at the Chelsea Flower Show. CHINA DAILY

Chmiel and Chin traveled to Guangzhou in 2019 on a study tour, to gain insights and ideas for how to shape their project. This included visiting popular attraction Huacheng Square, also known as Flower City, and Baiyun Mountain.

"We started to learn about not just the history of Guangzhou in the last 2,000 years, but particularly in the last 20 years, and how it's changed. So that started to plant some ideas in our head," Chmiel said.

Chen, a senior associate at Grant Associates, added: "The government wanted to show that Guangzhou is not just a big city, but bring us to the natural environments and the mountains."

The Guangzhou Garden is split into three zones, inspired by the city's environmental plan. These are the heart, representing social green space for people within the central business district, the lungs, representing protected green spaces to the north of Guangzhou, and the protected aquatic areas to the south, which are the kidneys.

Both designers were pleased to be able to put Guangzhou on the map and highlight it as a leading green city.

Chmiel said that during the show, many people enquired about Guangzhou, some of them having not previously heard of the city, and found out about its green infrastructure.

The garden was set to be delivered in 2020 before the pandemic led to the cancellation of last year's show, but the pair were able to adapt the showcase with more mature plants and trees, in keeping with their message of sustainability.