Images copyright Aralia ltd and A, Benjamin Weatherall
Aralia Landscape Architects: Roof Terrace Design
Roof terraces are an amazing opportunity
for any hotel, golf, spa, conference centre,
restaurant or bar to create a truly unique outdoor
space. Somewhere which could become a
real destination for the visitor and contribute
significantly to the overall client experience.
Aralia Landscape Architects have been
established for over a decade and have been
delivering world class roof terraces (and country
estates) to both the private and commercial
sector. Aralia identified roof terraces as an
area with potential for massive growth and so
in 2012 designed a show garden ‘Roof Terrace
Workplace of Tomorrow’ for the RHS Chelsea
Flower Show. The garden was an outstanding
success and achieved the highly acclaimed
Silver Flora award from the RHS Judges. RBS
were the main sponsor for the garden and the
primary concept behind this roof terrace was to
design an external space which could be used
as an extension to a corporate office space. This
allowed the work force to spill over outside, but
moreover to provide a stunning environment
which was inspirational for them to work in.
The Chelsea Show Garden highlighted just how
far one could go with roof terrace design, and
caught the eye of many corporates including St
George Plc (part of the Berkley Group).
The Aralia studio team love to design with new
and exciting materials, especially if they are
sustainable, of which many were used for the
Roof Terrace Workplace of Tomorrow. The flooring
utilised a bamboo hardwood deck, which was
new to the UK and had only just been launched
at ECO Build that March (2012). Bamboo is
a fast growing, highly sustainable material
that looks a million dollars, without costing the
earth. Aralia worked with a furniture designer to
develop their ideas for planters, sofa benches
and coffee tables using ‘upcycled plastic’. This
plastic material used Grade A plastic (which
www.aralia.org.uk
would otherwise go into land fill) and turned
it into some stunning pieces, which the public
loved. At first glance, and at a more lingering
view, the furniture looks like it’s made of stone
or granite. It’s much warmer than stone to sit on
and is sufficiently heavy as to be very safe for roof
terrace use and highly durable. Aralia introduced
an ‘Umbrella Work Station’ which consisted of a
giant planter, with a smooth work surface made
of Richlite and an Acer globosum which came
up through the table to provide both drama and
shade. ‘Richlite’, is a material made of multiple
sheets of highly compressed paper, which has
great sustainable credentials as well as looking
highly contemporary. The idea with this work
station was that individual users could sit on high
stools to work on their mobile or tablet devices.
Another unique aspect of the roof terrace was
the bespoke ‘C Swings’ which allowed the user
somewhere to truly relax and get away from
it all, perhaps after visiting the ‘Herbal Tea Bar’.
The Tea Bar comprised a stunning herbal green