The garden was found to consist mainly of concrete with surrounding plantings and a garden shed. The existing integral patio had a sudden drop off to the concrete of about 1.2 metres. It became paramount, during the familiarisation survey, that the distant view had to be drawn into the piece and the design had to lead you into the garden allowing you to enjoy the sea views at various vantage points. The challenge lay in how we get a large spa, an entertainment deck and a garden in suitable proportions with the hard structures. A design was born whereby the large spa was sited at a level allowing for a be-spoke, mechanically-operated deck lid to be able to act not only a spa cover, but also as a usable deck for entertaining.

The spa was positioned so that the elevated deck finished in line with the existing porch. This allowed us to be at a level out from the home above the ground and lifting you to enjoy a great visual line above the bottom garden rush fencing. To the side of the deck and spa we created a planter which supported a nesting of ornamental grasses (Pennisetum rubra). This grass not only provides a spectacular colour in its leaf and seed head, especially when the suns rays catch it, but with it’s height it gave that subtle privacy when you were within the spa from the neighboring house. Having a dual-function, timber spa lid we had to invent a be-spoke structure and a mechanical design to support large human loads when partying and also to act as a spa safety lid via a touch-pad key code switch.

This design gave us a very flexible approach and allowed for this multi-functional unit at times of wanting to use the spa and still have people wishing to use the decked environment due to the designed shape and size. The lid was designed to mechanically retract exposing the spa, yet at a predesigned point acting as a step down to the spa’s level with no restrictions on space. The remaining deck when the spa was in use was constructed in such a way to enable you to reach the garden unhindered via large wide steps.

Once you arrived into the garden we needed to create a simple design which eliminated the sense of a narrow garden. So the lower garden was designed in such a way so that you would be able to walk down and enjoy the plantings, namely Ornamental Acers and Pears, giving you the needed verticality whilst defusing the boundary fencing. The intertwined Phormiums and Duranta’ Sheena Gold’ added an informal feeling, leading you to the lower part of the garden supporting Camellia sasanqua.

We rounded the bottom planter in such a way to help remove any awkward corner detail and naturally connect to the parallel planter. This created a visual connection and a sense of belonging with the existing home. It was then decided that the edging to the garden planters would be of old stock sourced to match the existing home. Further detail to help defuse the narrow aspect of the garden, an old style Cretan water urn was placed within a circular planter supporting Dianella ‘Silver Streak’. With the calm, spilling water from the top catching the sun’s rays and creating a gentle whispering atmosphere, not only during the day but at night, it is softly lit with a designed lighting scheme throughout the garden.

Finally, to embrace the elevated timber structure, a path was diagonally placed allowing for access to the side gate. The sandstone pavers chosen carry a very unusual banding causing you to look at it’s many different shapes and lines.

A simple garden holding a lot of options.