LONDON, ENGLAND.- John Madejski has given the V&A £2 million to create a new garden at the heart of the museum. It will be named ‘The John Madejski Garden’ in honour of the donor. The garden, by award-winning garden designer Kim Wilkie, opens to the public on 6 July 2005. It is a central part of the V&A’s ten year future plan to transform the museum.

Kim Wilkie’s design has transformed the garden. The Italianate courtyard has become a stylish, elegant place to meet and provides a central point from which to explore the museum. The main feature is a stone-paved ellipse, with surrounding steps and water jets, which can be filled with water as a reflecting pool or drained to an oval for displays and receptions.

Grass lawns and York stone paving surround the central ellipse and the north façade is framed by a pair of liquidambar trees. Glass planters contain lemon trees in summer and clipped hollies in winter. The courtyard walls are softened by plantings of blue hydrangeas and seasonal displays of plants such as echium, foxtails, irises, lilies and spring bulbs.

The design allows the garden to be used both as a simple courtyard garden and as a stage set for display, theatre, parties and events. The terraces on the south side accommodate cafés and bars.

At night and for special events the garden will be dramatically transformed. The lighting will be specially created for the garden by Patrick Woodroffe, lighting designer for the Rolling Stones.

John Madejski last year gave a significant donation for the Fine Rooms at the Royal Academy of Arts. In 2004 he also committed himself to being the financial sponsor of an academy school in the South Reading Area, to give children an opportunity to work in a decent environment. Mr Madejski has supported the Royal Theatre, Windsor and has a gallery named in his honour at the Reading Museum. There is also a John Madejski Lecture Theatre at Reading University and Mr Madejski has funded the Chair of Reputation at Henley Management College. He is the chairman of several companies including Reading Football Club, Goodhead Group PLC and Sackville Properties PLC. In 2000 he was awarded the OBE for his contribution to the Reading community, and was also made a Deputy Lieutenant for the Royal County of Berkshire.

John Madejski said, ' The garden at the V&A is one of London's secret spaces, hidden away from the hustle and bustle of city life. I am delighted to be involved with this important project which will give the people of the capital a tranquil space in which to relax, surrounded by the Italianate architecture of the courtyard'

Mark Jones, Director of the V&A said ‘Thanks to the generous support of John Madejski, we are creating a beautiful new garden providing a welcome focus for visitors at the centre of the Museum.’

Kim Wilkie said ‘The V&A is one of the major treasures of London and I hope that the garden will act as both a pivotal centre for the Museum and a new contemporary space for the capital’.

Kim Wilkie Associates won the competition to design the new garden at the V&A in 2003. The competition featured designs by six internationally acclaimed garden designers and was judged by a panel of experts from the worlds of horticulture and design. The competition for the garden was supported by the Friends of the V&A.

Kim Wilkie is a landscape architect, urban designer and environmental planner. He read modern history at Oxford and landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1989 Kim set up his practice, Kim Wilkie Associates. The practice combines the restoration of historic landscapes with radical new designs and the regeneration of cities springing from their individual character and identity. Recent projects include new designs for Hyde Park Corner, the restoration of the Villa La Pietra, Florence, for New York University and the strategic masterplan for the world heritage site at the Solovetski Archipelago, Russia.