Canopy Landscape Architects’ Paul Roper-Gee tells us how architectural collaboration creates complementary environments inside and out.
Great landscape design comes in a multitude of styles and scales. A design works when it gels with the people who live in it and when it responds to the unique opportunities and constraints of each particular site. Some of the best landscapes are a result of close collaboration between a client, landscape architect and architect at the outset of a project and developing the landscape design concurrently with the house architecture. One of Canopy’s recently completed larger scale residential projects illustrates this approach, working in collaboration with Warren and Mahoney Architects.
The site is set in an elevated position on a semi rural hillside with views to the coast. The clients were looking for contemporary and complementary house and landscape design. The house is a bold modernist single level dwelling using a limited exterior materials palette of concrete and glass. Working in tune with this striking architecture, the landscape design is also a bold sculptural gesture while providing personable outdoor living spaces for the client’s extended family.
The foreground landscape to the house is deliberately restrained with focus given to the wider site views. A series of curving grass terraces and mass planting of ornamental grasses provide a sculptural contrast to the developing native forest backdrop behind the house which nestles the house into the site, providing enclosure to this prominent position. Closer to the house, an outdoor entertainment courtyard has been created as a linear extension of the architecture with a long narrow shape and angular form. The courtyard allows the family to gather and entertain friends and includes an outdoor lounge, fire pit, dining area, and outdoor kitchen.
The space is enclosed by the forest backdrop and timber and steel pergola structure. Materials relate to the house with the use of off-the-form concrete, concrete precast panels, steel, gravel and concrete paving. The house is approached through a newly planted native forest created from locally endemic eco-sourced species. A softer approach to materials is used in the entry court with grass block pavers to car parking areas and lush planting reinforcing the native forest aesthetic.
The utility spaces have been developed to provide their functional purpose but still have a high quality aesthetic. Clotheslines have been designed to integrate into the landscape in a simple and sculptural way with black upright steel posts. Concrete pavers and gravels extend through this space, ensuring functionality but retaining a softer aesthetic with grey gravel and concrete edging.
Top image credit: Sam Hartnett