Navan-born architect’s jungle fever over Chelsea Flower Show showcase

London-based architect Mike McMahon, who is originally from Navan, has been selected to showcase a jungle-themed balcony garden at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show.

Mike, who is from Athlumney, has been living in London since 2007 and opened his own practice with his wife Jewlsy Mathews just 14 months ago. Over the years Mike, who has a keen interest in nature and horticulture, has visited Chelsea many times and inspired by their own balconies at their home in Kings Cross, the couple decided to enter a balcony garden in the UK's most high profile flower and garden show.

Their garden features an "explosion of hardy tropical planting to mirror the four structural layers of the jungle", a seating area cocooned by cascading flora, a small pond, birds nests, bat boxes and a striking folded back wall crafted from recycled paper.

While most garden designers at Chelsea will engage a contractor to build their garden, Mike and Jewlsy will be doing all their work themselves from building the furniture and folded wall to all the planting. The balcony garden is five metres by two metres and they will have seven to ten days to create it from scratch before judging.

Mike is a son of Mary and Michael McMahon who along with a large Navan contingent, will be visiting London for the show in May. Mary is a former principal of Scoil Naoimh Eoin while Michael was heavily involved with Simonstown GFC. Mike himself also played with the club until he was 21.

A past pupil of St Oliver's NS and St Patrick's Classical School, Mike told how he went on to study architecture at Queen's University, Belfast, furthering his studies at Glasgow School of Art. He recalled that the first building he worked on was his parent's house in Athlumney, which he designed in 2003 and they moved in to in 2006.

"They loved the house when they moved in and they still really enjoy living in it. I did a really simple house, now I would do a much more contemporary house. I just wanted to blend it in to the neighbourhood."

In 2007, Mike moved to work in London and worked in a number of firms over the years, spending 10 years with Eric Parry Architects where he was an associate before leaving to set up his own studio.

"Probably the most famous projects I worked on was 4 Pancras Square in Kings Cross which is the home of Universal Music. I spent five years working on that as the project architect."

Mike also worked on projects abroad including in India and recently worked on an office building at 11 Belgrave Road, which he said is one of the most sustainable office buildings in London and features greenery all over the building.

"Architects often just design buildings but I love designing everything. In our own home, we designed and built all our furniture, everything from our sofa, to our dining table, our chairs, our concrete kitchen.

"When it comes to gardens, my two big interests in life have always been nature and greenery and gardening, and art or design as well. Our practice started to expand into landscaping. At Kings Cross where we live, we have two balconies that we call junglettes. We decided to do a much larger version of that for Chelsea. To demonstrate to people, who have balconies with nothing on them, that you can do so much with a balcony with planting and different things.

"I've gone to Chelsea numerous times, and my mother has often come over and other family members have flown over to go for the show. When we set up our practice, I said to Jewlsy why don't we enter, so we submitted a garden and then we got a call three weeks later to come for an interview."

The interview panel had 15-20 people on it and Mike said they loved the garden.

"We found out last August we were selected and bizzarely we were in a jungle in India when we found out. We were super excited to get selected," he said.

Already the couple had a lot of work done on elements of their design and will build the garden themselves.

"Most designers who are doing gardens, will have a separate contractor build it for them but we are doing it all ourselves. Everything from the hard landscaping to the furniture. We have already made the furniture itself and have started on the back wall panel made from recycled paper. All the materials we are using are either made from recycled material or we are using second hand containers and painting them so we are not putting anything new in as such. Sustainability is so important."

With a jungle theme, the plants are all exotic and not readily available in an average garden centre. They also have to be carefully sourced so that they are hardy enough to withstand the British climate.

Mike and Jewlsy were particularly delighted to be selected for Chelsea on their first attempt, indeed it is the first time they have entered any garden competition.

"When going to different garden centres to source plants, they were amazed that our first garden is a garden at Chelsea. Normally people have to do a garden at one of the smaller shows first.

"One lady we spoke to in our category was telling me she had tried three or four times to get into different shows and this is her fourth attempt. Everyone else in our category all has a degree in horticulture or gardening which neither myself or Jewlsy have."

All of Mike's knowledge, has been garnered up over his 35 years of gardening.

As a jungle themed garden, Mike said it will be lush with approximately 20 times the number of plants you would find in your average garden to achieve the effect.

Garden designer Diarmuid Gavin recently featured Mike and Jewlsy's Kings Cross balconies in one his articles showcasing how small spaces can be used to create maximum impact.

Sustainability is very important to Mike and Jewlsy as designers. "Sustainability is a key tenet of our design ethos. The recycled paper crafted into the durable back wall, decking, and furniture is testament to our commitment to circularity. Our pots embrace a second chance, fashioned from reclaimed containers.Post-event, the oval-shaped decking will be transformed into dining and coffee tables, ensuring a prolonged, multi-faceted life and the garden will be relocated to a new home."

The Chelsea Flower Show takes place from 21st to 25th May next.

See www.mikemcmahonstudio.com for more examples of his work.