TANGERINE DREAM

On the edge of one of London's busiest roundabouts, Nigel Dunnett has created exciting combinations of drought-tolerant plants for a roof garden that is as unexpected as it is joyful

- NATASHA GOODFELLOW

"When is a garden not a garden? When it's a work of art. Peveril Gardens, a rooftop community space built above some formerly derelict garages, next to one of London's busiest roundabouts, is just such a place.

From the drab surrounding streets below, it is easy to miss. But venture up the stairs through the bright-orange doors and you're in a different world entirely - a world of colour, heat and interest that brings to mind the buildings of Mexican architect Luis Barragán.

The space is a simple rectangle, its four tangerine walls pierced on all sides by long windows. Underfoot, terracotta brick pathways continue and intensify the orange theme, winding around the planting beds whose inhabitants - spiky dasylirions, Melianthus major and spiralling euphorbias - cast their seductive shadows against the walls. Outside, sirens clang and the traffic roars; up here, it's the sound of grasshoppers you hear first. If the definition of art is something that transports you, this ticks the box.