Costa visits a stunning native garden, set above the busy streets of Sydney but designed to make you feel grounded. Subscribe 🔔 ab.co/GA-subscribe
In inner Sydney, a former tractor factory has been transformed into a residential building that includes a sky-high garden oasis. Owner and architect Adam Haddow designed the 5th story space as a test case to “change the way apartments are thought about and make them much more like a home, and in that process get a garden.” The 350m2 garden across two levels is intentionally much bigger than the 190m2 apartment! The first level is designed to extend the living space, provide privacy, and capture stunning city views. The top-level is a more organic and wild style, fitting Adam’s brief of “I want to feel like I’m in the bush. I want the trees, I want the birds.”
Adam worked with Landscape Architect Tom Smith (Dangar Barin Smith) to bring the vision to life. There were lots of challenges including exposure to strong winds and sun, low soil depth, and tricky drainage. Tom says, “We did a lot of collective work with the builder and the architect to make sure we had effective drainage, and that went right back to the waterproofing and drainage cell layers.” Thankfully the building was designed for heavy tractors driving around so some of the engineering work was already done for them. They also raised the floor level of the apartment in order to increase the depth of soil for plants.
Planting choice was very important as trees in the lower level have up to 70cm of soil depth, but up top, there’s only 40cm to work with. “We chose the banksia and leptospermum primarily because they grow quite quickly, and they also suit low soil conditions. You see them growing up and down the coastline in sandstone outcrops, they’re quite tough and hardy.” A dense understory of grasses, clumping plants, and groundcovers help to create a layered effect and blur the straight lawn lines, to create an organic feel and flow through the space.
On the lower level, “Paperbarks play an important role in terms of providing scale and also strategic screening for surrounding buildings” combined with lush lomandras that hide the railing. Cordylines are then used as sculptural accent plants, that create a private nook around an outdoor bathtub!
Adam says, “You do feel like you’re in the bush, the garden transports you to another place. You have the activity of the city when you go downstairs and as you come upstairs its kind of serenity and quietness that the garden gives. This is luxury I think, we’re very, very lucky.”
Featured Plants:
COASTAL BANKSIA - Banksia integrifolia
COASTAL TEA TREE - Leptospermum laevigatum
(Check before planting: this may be an environmental weed in your area)
FOUNTAIN GRASS - Cenchrus alopecuroides ‘Nafray’ syn. Pennisetum alopecuroides cv.
KANGAROO VINE - Cissus antarctica
BROAD-LEAVED PAPERBARK - Melaleuca quinquenervia
SPINY-HEADED MAT-RUSH - Lomandra longifolia ‘Katrinus’
CABBAGE TREE - Cordyline australis
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