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An outdoor laboratory, built into a hillside, takes visitors down into the landscape, offering an ‘insect’s eye view’ and a space in which to study. The lab’s roof structure is inspired by a compound insect eye and the lab is used for real scientific research, monitoring and studying insects visiting the garden.

Diverse topography across the site — rammed earth floors, hoggin pathways, dead wood, piles of rubble, bare sand and gabion walls — provide numerous and varied habitats for insects. Water in still pools and flowing streams provides additional important insect habitats and adds interest to the aesthetic and soundscape of the garden.

A dead tree ‘sculpture’, cut into rings and elevated on steel poles, ‘floats’ over biodiverse planting and a standing dead tree and tree stump provide further sculptural habitat. Planting for pollinators and a wide range of other beneficial insects forms a beautiful and resilient scheme that will provide year-round food, habitats and interest.

After the show, the garden will be relocated to a permanent location at IQL Stratford in East London as a long-term opportunity for learning and insect research.