OUR APPROACH
We worked with the strong geometry of the house rather than trying to disguise it.
Balau timber was used across the decking and vertically as contemporary trellis fencing, bringing warmth to the harder architectural materials.
A central line of plank paving leads through the garden towards the children’s play area. Rather than allowing the trampolines and swings to dominate the view, we surrounded them with screening planting, creating an outdoor room that gradually reveals itself as you move through the garden.
The children have their own space, but the garden never feels like a conventional family garden built around play equipment.
A GARDEN FOR GATHERING
Designed to be used all year round.
At the centre of the garden is a generous decked area designed to be used throughout the year.
A large Corten steel fire bowl forms its focal point, surrounded by substantial oak-block seating. Bespoke oak shelving provides storage for logs, keeping the practical elements of the space integrated into the design.
Nearby, a fully equipped outdoor kitchen allows cooking and entertaining to become part of life in the garden.
Together, these spaces give the family somewhere to gather long after summer has ended.
THE PLANTING
The planting was designed as a soft counterpoint to the architecture.
Tree ferns run through the garden, reflecting the family’s New Zealand roots. Behind them, layers of silver birch and acers rise towards the larger existing trees and the borrowed landscape beyond the garden.
This creates a gradual layering of vegetation, from grasses and flowering plants at ground level through to the canopy overhead.
Hakonechloa macra was planted generously throughout the garden, creating a meadow-like matrix that ties the different areas together. Softer flowering plants and bulbs emerge through the grasses, bringing changes in colour and character as the seasons move on.
THROUGH THE SEASONS
In autumn, the garden becomes a different place.
Autumn is perhaps when the relationship between the planting and the rest of the garden becomes most striking.
The Hakonechloa shifts from green into bronze and fiery brown, creating ribbons of warm colour through the garden.
At the same time, the Corten steel and fire bowl come into their own.
As temperatures fall, the fire remains a reason to gather outside, while the grasses hold their form around it. The garden doesn’t disappear at the end of summer. It simply becomes a different place.
THE OUTCOME
A garden that sits comfortably against the strength of the house.
The finished garden sits comfortably against the strength of the house without trying to compete with it.
Concrete, timber, steel and planting each have their own character, but the abundance of foliage softens the architecture and makes the garden feel enclosed and immersive.
The family’s New Zealand connection is present through the tree ferns without turning the garden into an imitation of somewhere else. The children’s play space is there without defining the garden. And the fire, kitchen and seating give the family reasons to use it throughout the year.
What was needed was a garden strong enough to sit alongside the architecture, but soft enough to change how it feels to live there.
GALLERY
Moments from the project.
The garden has completely changed the way the house feels. We love how the planting softens the architecture, and the tree ferns give us that little connection to New Zealand. We use it throughout the year now, especially around the fire.
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