2022 INDUSTRY AWARDS RESIDENTIAL LANDSCAPE OF THE YEAR

C.O.S. Design's "Mount Martha" project won the Residential Landscape of the Year Award.

C.O.S. Design were approached by the client to prepare a landscape and pool design for their large sloping site in Mt Martha. The initial brief was extensive and all revolved around the idea of an entertainers heaven.

Creating the garden style and theme needed to strategically belong to the unique architecture and surrounding coastal environment or in fact be the defining element that gave the home a real sense of belonging.

The big hero of the rear yard is the stunning Laguna Pool which is flanked by locally sourced stone walls for privacy and drama. The wet deck spa adds a tricky, yet timeless feature to the area and the surrounding paved terraces offer ample space for sun lounging and relaxing. The wet edge captures the ocean and coastal foliage vistas perfectly whilst creating a stunning water feature from the garden levels.

The series of deck landings and steps leads you through the terraced garden beds from the home level to the pool level and then down to the fire pit garden.

The raised garden beds around the rear home decks remove the requirement for balustrades and they keep the pool and ocean vistas clear from obstruction.

The lower fire pit zone and pathways introduce curves into the design to soften the heavily structured, dominant pool zones. These curves also create a tapestry of form and function from the alfresco decks above.

An informal pathway leads you down through the modern coastal and classic plants combinations through to the rolling lawn areas whilst the more formal paved steps provides a more structured transition to the lower garden. The banked garden beds throughout offer an eclectic mix of foliage, form and colour to soften the space with a clever balance of disorder to order.

The lower lawns are all about clean, open, usable kids play space while also offer some “white space” to balance out the upper, more structured zones. Locally quarried boulders were used to create natural retainers so we could keep the existing eucalypts on site.

Aesthetically you have a visually striking, timeless, sophisticated yet relaxed beautiful rear garden that perfectly frames, if not enhances, the stunning and priceless Port Phillip Bay and bush views beyond.

Judges Comments

Setting the benchmark for professional presentation, C.O.S. Design have again delivered a remarkable project worthy of this prestigious title.

Massive challenges and site complexities on this steeply sloping block were addressed flawlessly with the design reconciling many elements across changing levels and competing uses, resulting in a beautiful and functional landscape.

The design aesthetic shows a strong connection between the surrounds and architecture of the home, and the palette of surfaces colours and textures work cohesively giving the project a high-end finish.

A truly stunning and highly functional landscape that exemplifies how design perfection drives a showcase outcome.