Tom Stuart-Smith Unveils The Julia Rausing Garden at RHS Badminton

Tom Stuart-Smith is designing The Julia Rausing Garden at RHS Badminton, a 2,400-square-meter installation. The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) identifies this project as the largest show garden ever created for an RHS event, established to honor the life of Julia Rausing.

The project, announced as of June 10, 2026, occupies a significant footprint within the RHS Badminton site. The 2,400m² scale exceeds the typical dimensions of Feature Gardens seen at major RHS shows, which generally focus on smaller, concentrated thematic displays.

How large is the Julia Rausing Garden?

The garden covers 2,400 square meters. According to the project specifications, this makes it the largest show garden in the history of the Royal Horticultural Society. The size allows for a more expansive landscape approach than the standard modular designs often found at horticultural exhibitions.

This scale represents a departure from traditional show garden constraints. By utilizing such a large area, the design can incorporate broader environmental transitions and more complex planting schemes that would be impossible in smaller plots.

Who is designing the RHS Badminton feature?

Landscape designer Tom Stuart-Smith is the lead architect for the installation. Stuart-Smith is known for high-profile international projects, including the redesign of the gardens at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and contributions to the High Line in New York City.

His appointment brings a specific design philosophy to RHS Badminton. Stuart-Smith often emphasizes the intersection of nature and urbanity, and the scale of the Julia Rausing Garden provides a canvas for these large-scale environmental explorations.

Why was the garden created?

The garden serves as a celebration of the life of Julia Rausing. The project is tied to the philanthropic efforts of the Julia Rausing Trust, which has a long-standing history of supporting the Royal Horticultural Society’s scientific and educational initiatives.

By dedicating the largest show garden in RHS history to Rausing, the organization acknowledges the trust’s role in sustaining horticultural research. The garden is intended to function as both a memorial and a demonstration of advanced planting techniques.

The integration of the Julia Rausing Garden into the RHS Badminton event highlights a trend toward larger, more immersive installations. While previous show gardens focused on residential application, this project shifts toward the creation of a permanent-feeling landscape within a temporary exhibition context.

The project’s scale and the pedigree of Stuart-Smith suggest an ambition to set a new precedent for how the RHS utilizes its exhibition space at Badminton House. The use of 2,400 square meters allows the design to move beyond mere decoration into a study of landscape architecture at scale.