This garden project is most unusual, in that we retained all the existing vegetation which was both mature and architectural. Photos by Marianne Majerus.
Project Name: Highbury Courtyard Garden
Studio Name: Mylandscapes LTD
The original garden was laid to railway sleepers and concrete slabs by the developer, but the trees were great – a very tall Cordyline palm tree, Black bamboo, Yucca and Butia palms. In order to retain these, we devised an angular layout which bypasses the trunks. Each section features a different material in a highly avant-garde fashion, from grey granite to white limestone and grass.
A curved s-haped steel bench wraps around the Cordyline trunk, straddling the surfaces and lit beneath. The seat’s powder-coating matches that of the bespoke pair of tall curved vases opposite, planted with Libertia grasses.
In the top right corner, we added a multi-stemmed graceful Tibetan cherry, its red trunks contrasting the white limestone. Jasmine climbers cloth the right fence boundary. The left side fence was painted a dark purple to create high-definition contrast. Cedar cladding on top adds further privacy.
LED light strips are featured as linear details between the surfaces, generating dramatic theatricality at night, interacting with downlights and uplights in a seamless indoor-outdoor connection with the adjacent open-plan kitchen.
