A Green Oasis

The exsiting courtyard was bare and lifeless, and dominated by 6m+ high buildings on each side, creating an stark and imposing space.

Our clients asked us to bring it to life, giving us an open design brief to create something modern and striking, with just one stipulation - that the main 8m high wall be somehow covered or hidden, whilst making sure it could still be maintained practically.

One significant constraint was that due to drainange requirements we were not able to create beds in the ground, and could therefore only use pots.

From the outset we aimed to make the scale of the wall and buildings surrounding the courtyard more “human”, which we achieved by layering pots and planting to create a tiered effect visually.

A modular design of planters arranged in layers to create a “stacked” effect, keeping the colour palette to just a soft blue colour, with occassional grey to break it up. The pots at the back were raised up using gabions - a simple, cost effective and sturdy solution for supporting heavy planters.

A diverse selection of mature bamboos, maples and Camellias formed the backbone of the planting design, filling the space with luch greenery and covering substantial portions of the walls. We included 3 birch trees to bring some privacy and balance to the open side of the courtyard, and grouded the space using a large pot, which also served to break up the central space into different areas.