A residential garden in Christchurch — LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA

Kamo Marsh Landscape Architects have designed a residential Christchurch garden which takes inspiration from the surrounding landscape.

Sitting at the foot of the Port Hills in Sumner, the garden utilises a small space to create a ‘sub-tropical New Zealand resort’ where the owners can escape to on a daily basis while working from home. They wanted their garden to be an extension of their house and offer a strong sense of place while drawing on elements of the coastal environment and hills.

The Kamo Marsh designed garden is in the Port Hills, Sumner.

Despite the space being only approximately 100 square metres, Kamo Marsh has managed to include different areas for dining, lounging and relaxing, as well as a pool, water feature and dense planting, all with flowing, curvilinear forms that reference the surrounds.

“As residential lots become smaller the challenge for landscape architects to make the most of the little space available is more and more common,” say the designers. “With travel being restricted and repeated COVID lockdowns, our homes and gardens are more important than ever to provide a positive personal space that benefits mental health and wellbeing.”

The garden utilises a small space to create a sub-tropical New Zealand resort feeing.

“This garden demonstrates that we don’t need acres of space to create a garden escape with a high quality of amenity and finishing.”

Kamo Marsh have used locally sourced Port Hills stone to clad the walls around the pool area, as well as native grasses in the roof gardens. This both creates a sense of place and visually blends the garden with its immediate context.

“Bringing the stone of the hills into key features of the garden, makes it feel like a continuation through colour, texture and materiality.”

Kamo Marsh has managed to include different areas for dining, lounging and relaxing, as well as a pool, water feature and dense planting, all with flowing, curvilinear forms that reference the surrounds.

Collaboration was necessary to ensure the pool could be constructed within the tight space, and it was essential that it blend into the garden without dominating it. Curves have been key to establishing a flowing, coastal character for the garden, so the pool needed to be able to extend from these curvilinear forms.

Two small roof gardens have been implemented on the first floor following the completion of the main garden. At 2.7 and 12 metres-squared, these gardens offer privacy from the street and extend references to the coastal environment through the use of native, coastal planting. From inside the house, these gardens provide a serene outlook that screens out the view of neighbouring houses and moves with the wind.

The design team says the garden shows you don’t need acres of space to create a garden escape with a high quality of amenity and finishing.

Kamo Marsh collaborated with Natural Habitats to select 13 native and exotics species that would be low maintenance and suitable for a coastal Christchurch climate. The roof gardens utilise rainwater and offer shade which regulates the temperature in the northeast facing rooms. These roof garden modules were planted off-site and then rapidly installed at the house within six hours.

The roof gardens received a gold award for Landscape Horticulture- Residential in the 2021 Master Landscapes Landscapes of Distinction Awards.

The client says “the transition from the existing concrete-based design to the new organic layout and lush plantings have been significant. Where previously the backyard was barely used it is now a purposeful and natural extension of the home.”

“The evergreen plantings have allowed the garden to be enjoyed throughout all 4 seasons. By addressing all exterior views. Every window in the house now features lush subtropical greenery, it is a huge asset to both the value of the house and to our wellbeing.”