Feature garden
This new home next to a mangrove-fringed estuary south of Auckland called for a garden that utilises native planting and natural textures to blend into the landscape
Utilising native planting and natural textures
Finding a spot to build a home on is tough in Auckland, so when a site with views of the water, birdlife and mangroves presents itself, who can resist? Not the young family who bought this 800-square-metre property in Karaka Lakes, south of the city, four years ago. “To live in Auckland and be on the edge of the wilderness seemed unique,” they say.
After building their new house (designed by Andrew Daly of AD Architects) the couple commissioned landscape designer Sandra Batley of Flourish to design the garden. High on the priority list was a desire to fit into the surrounding landscape. “The estuary is key to the house and garden designs; it drove our choice of native plants that are sympathetic to the adjacent wilderness,” they explain.
Site
The flat site is dominated by the large, 380-square-metre house, which earned its builder, Counties David Reid Homes, gold in the 2015 Master Builders House of the Year awards. Its main form is a two-storey, timberclad rectangle with glass sliding doors that maximise views of the southern harbour estuary and connect to north-facing outdoor living spaces.
Style
As well as designing a garden attuned to the location and architecture of the house, Sandra was asked to make it family friendly (the couple have three young children) and easy to maintain. “They wanted a north-facing outdoor living area for the family to eat and entertain in, a small space to grow herbs, fruit and veges, and a place for a large trampoline,” she says.
“My approach was simple and functional: to create a design that harmonises rather than competes with the contemporary architecture. I wanted to add in some design elements that feature in the home, such as the curved entrance wall, which I replicated in the ground plan with radiating basalt cobbles, and a curved path and raised planters.”