Industrial Evolution A relaxing retreat garden that honours its hard-working past.
A courtyard garden in the heart of Sydney provides a welcome inner-city retreat for its owners while honouring its hard-working past.
Steadfast city dwellers Nik Auzins and Emma Shearer value the eclectic buildings that define Sydney’s innercity suburb of Annandale. New-build high-rise apartments jostle with 1970s offices, while narrow terraces and ageing warehouses spill down to the harbour. “The heritage of the area and its industrial past is visible not only in the architecture but also in the remnants of old machinery along the waterfront,” says Emma.
Charmed by the character of the area, the couple bought an abandoned warehouse that had been weathered by 90 years of manufacturing and trade. They converted the vaulted spaces, rough brick walls and exposed timber into a stunning home. Then, to complete the build, they purchased the adjoining disused courtyard and commissioned landscape designer Hugh Main from Spirit Level to transform the 100-square-metre space.
They wanted a garden that would honour its industrial heritage while also providing them with sanctuary and catering for their beloved Portuguese water dogs, Issy and Bica.
To fulfil the brief, Hugh chose hardscaping materials that matched the existing palette. “I didn’t want to create a meadow – it’s a former factory and the design is unapologetic about that,” he says. A timber deck extends the living area into the outdoor space, shaded by a steel-framed timber pergola. Weathering
steel, with its red rusted finish, was used to construct planter boxes that overflow with a collection of succulents including the quirky ripple jade plant ( Crassula undulatifolia ‘Max Cook’). To reinforce the raw industrial vernacular, the swimming pool is reminiscent of an abandoned factory pit filled with water. It’s tiled in slate grey, creating a dark reflective surface that mirrors the sky. Despite its industrial appearance, this is a chemical free pool; the water is cleaned via a series of filters including a water garden that runs the length of the main pool and acts as a firststage biological filter. The ultimate comfort for sensitive human (and canine) skin.
The planting here creates the feel of a disused building slowly being reclaimed by nature. “You walk into an old factory and things are still alive and thriving. Things are coming up through the cracks or growing on the walls,” says Hugh. In keeping with this theme, trees are randomly planted in the space as if birds had dropped the seeds. The glossy leaves and strong vertical lines of the Australian native water gum ( Tristaniopsis laurina ‘Luscious’) provide a foil for the original brick walls with their horizontal stretcher bond pattern, as does the tropical birch ( Betula nigra) with its papery red-brown bark that flakes to reveal a grey trunk. An underplanting of mixed perennials and grasses billow from a curvaceous bed threatening to engulf a solid sandstone block that serves as a bench seat and focal point. Dating from the early 20th century and weighing more than a tonne, the reclaimed stone displays evidence of the original stonemason’s craft, with arrow-shaped depressions (originally designed to hold mortar) still visible on either side.
To further honour the building’s industrial origins, Nik and Emma chose to make a feature of a difficult space. One side of the main living room looks onto a narrow passage hemmed by the two-storey brick wall of an adjoining building. Local artist Daniel O’Toole was commissioned to create an eye-catching mural in a graffiti style. To integrate the mural into the garden, Hugh added narrow weathering steel planters filled with Boston ivy ( Parthenocissus tricuspidata). The original plan called for the ivy to creep over the image, leaving only sections of colour peeking through, but once the artwork was finished, Emma couldn’t bear the thought of covering it. Instead, stainless-steel wires were added to train the ivy into a frame. “The creeper on the wall gives this space a lot of life and with a bit of street art it’s the perfect solution to finish off the garden,” says Emma.
Today, the raw materials from the site’s industrial past are complemented by the informal, untamed nature of the garden, creating a lush, enveloping, private retreat in the heart of Australia’s busiest city.
“It’s a former factory and the design is unapologetic about that.” Hugh Main, landscape designer
Spirit Level, Surry Hills, NSW; (02) 8399 0660 or spiritlevel.com.au.