gardens
Story Peter Fudge
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KITCHEN GARDEN The luxury of space presents its own challenges when it comes to the style and placement of outdoor living “rooms”, barbecue and entertaining areas, and such practicalities as a herb and vegetable patch his large back garden is in Killara, a leafy suburb on Sydney’s north shore. Though at first it appeared to have estate-like proportions, there was a lot to fit in to the areas immediately surrounding the house: an outdoor room to relax in, a spacious entertaining area with a barbecue, a clothes-drying area, and a patch for vegetables and herbs. To entice the family outside to eat on a regular basis, an everyday entertaining space was required. Access to it is from the kitchen, so my design includes new bifold doors. Using such doors is a tried-and-true formula for linking indoors and out, as are awnings attached to the house and spanning the length of the outdoor room. Here, they have created shade and extended the horizontal plane of the internal ceiling. A generous timber bench next to the doors suggests that people come out and sit. Even though this space appears to be very casual and accessible from the house, I tapped into a bag of “tricks” to achieve seamlessness between the residence and the garden. The first was designing this outdoor space on the same level as the house, though with a slope away from it so rain water is directed away from the dwelling. Another was to cover the outdoor entertaining area’s floor with the same material as the internal space adjoining the outdoor area, though this isn’t always possible. As the more formal entertaining is carried out at the back of the house but on the other side, I decided to raise this entertaining space two steps higher than the house’s ground-floor level so it reads as a slightly different zone to the more relaxed area. I chose this location because it sits directly below the soft, weeping
PHOTOGRAPHY JASON BUSCH
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wish
Gleditsia tree, which offers the family natural shade during long Sunday lunches. Raising this area slightly means it has a greater vantage point over the rest of the garden, whereas the casual entertaining space is much more introspective and has a closer relationship with the kitchen and adjoining living area. With this in mind, the formal entertaining area – being further away from the house – needed to be connected to an element that made sense of its isolated position. So I designed a stainless-steel bench in the barbecue unit to match the stainless-steel counters of the kitchen. It houses a barbecue, pizza oven, sink and wood storage, which makes the space seem more serious and sit more comfortably in the scheme. The material matching, however, can be as simple as using cushions of the same colour in both areas. Continuing with the food-loving features of this garden, I placed a vegie garden on the boundary, within easy reach of the kitchen and pizza oven. It boasts espaliered lemons and limes, tomatoes, bok choy and a huge selection of herbs. These functional areas are tied together in a formal design that matches the house in symmetry and boldness. The drama of the entertaining area is emphasised by the use of six Snow Pears that line the path from the house to this food lovers’ spot. The avenue of Snow Pears makes the path feel longer than it really is. Japanese Box platforms and step-risers create a unifying thread for the entire garden and provide a soothing contrast to the cream paving. Softening the heavy kitchen hardware and wood \ pile is a backdrop of viburnum, its striking deep green glossy leaves standing tall. peterfudgegardens.com.au
June 2009
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21/05/2009 3:31:40 PM