Drusillas Park, the best zoo in South East England, approached Agrumi with the idea of some sculptures, up to 10 feet tall, to be created for a new roundabout. The roundabout is right next to the zoo and the layout was designed so it looks like the animals are all walking towards the zoo.
We were more than happy to take on this project, a joint effort between Drusillas Park, Alfriston School and National Highways.
All the sculptures had to be ‘road safe’, which meant creating the pieces from soft metal rods. This was a new experience for us, but we were up for the challenge!
The ‘D’ shape was the most complicated design to produce , as it was about 3.5m tall! We had to make sure that it was stable and completely safe on the roadside.
There are a collection of animals around the ‘D’: three Meerkats, a King Penguin and a Lemur. All of which can be found in real life at the zoo itself.
Agrumi brought to life the designs, initially created by children from Alfriston School. A number of the children’s design submissions depicted animals from the Park, which inspired Drusillas’ final design.
The project was a collaborative effort, also involving National Highways, who installed the sculpture on the public roundabout.
National Highways route manager for the south east Peter Phillips, said:
“This green sculpture is a glowing example of how a topiary like this can improve the local spaces of people living and working near our roads.
Hopefully it will also inspire generations to come.”
Drusillas Park said:
“Our new fabulous roundabout sculpture feature is finally in place, and we love it!
Local school children from Alfriston School inspired the design behind our new topiary lemurs, penguins and meerkats that now proudly sit at the Drusillas roundabout.
Read more on the project here.
Next time you're driving by, be sure to give our topiary animals a wave ”
