GARDEN DESIGN
• To avoid the lower terrace space
becoming the ‘main’ space and to
encourage/create strong reasons
for the family to appreciate and
use the whole garden.
• To design a space that will suit
and engage the Client’s children
as they grow older and their needs
for the garden evolve.
Design Rationale
• The garden is strongly rectilinear
and takes it cue from the
architecture; the lawn is
deliberately kept irregular to
integrate the existing trees and so
that they are embedded within
the design rather than isolated
elements.
• The space nearer to the house has
been given a more architectural
form and this interpretation
loosens to a more natural
expression as you progress
through the garden to the wooded
area at the rear.
• Design elements have been
introduced and repeated on both
levels (the strip paving and the
Urbis bowls) so that there are
common elements across both.
• The paths on either side of the
garden run through the planting
beds to encourage the family to
engage with the planting, and
so the children can easily watch
and see how the plants evolve
throughout the growing season.
• The stepping stone strips in the
rear half of the garden emphasise
a journey through the planting to
the play area and a deck terrace
that creates a seating space for
the parents to use whilst the
children are young and need to be
supervised during play, and will
become a ‘hang out’ space for the
children as they grow into their
teens.
• The tree seat and bench opposite
create a space for the children to
use for drawing and reading, and
makes a feature of the tree (avoids
the sense that it is ‘just’ sat in the
lawn).
• The design therefore creates
a series of usable spaces that
encourage different parts of the
garden to be used, whilst still
maintaining a very open feel and
not taking away from the size
of the garden and the sense of
openness.
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