Showhomes > Landscaping detail

Landscaping detail

“We wanted to create a home that sat well on the site and felt as if it really belonged here in the Canterbury landscape,” explains Philip Bidwell, architectural designer of this stunning contemporary home built by Ultimate Homes in Westmoreland, Christchurch.

“I believe that any home should enhance the quality of life for the people who live in it and a big part of that has to be taking something from the site itself – whether it's the view, or just working to get the flow happening between the indoors and out. The landscaping is a huge part of that – as important as the house itself.”

“We wanted to use materials and plants and water features that referenced the Canterbury landscape and felt at home here. We've gone for an open pavilion feeling in the dining area and we were very keen on the idea of a water-feature that would provide a visual and aural backdrop to that.”

Water flows out of a rectangular lip in the garden wall and drops down into a shallow watercourse lined with grey river-washed stone. At night the shallow pool and waterfall are lit from underwater, with the water flowing away into the shadows.

“We worked very closely with Landscape Designer, Graham Baldwin of Direct Design. He's come up with some very simple but effective ideas that carry that sense of the wider Canterbury landscape into the backyard. For example, the use of the natural concrete Firthflagstones edged in contrasting Firth ‘blacksands' cobblestones.

Another great idea was the grid treatment in the area off the dining area. Treated timber battens have been used to create a frame-work which has been filled with a mixture of river-washed pebbles and alpine ground cover plants. It's quite formal, picking up the same grid of the pavers and the aluminium joinery, but it's also very natural.”

Just as the exterior of the house has been clad in different materials to help define and create separate spaces, the landscaping uses a variety of materials to define and enhance those spaces too. Concrete, pebbles, water, ground cover grass and minimal planting have all combined to create unique outdoor spaces that are distinct from each other, yet also work together and with the house itself.