A thoughtfully considered garden enhances utility for its occupants through beauty, refuge & a generosity to its environment.
The above statement encapsulates the guiding principles we apply to our approach to garden design. We believe there is a necessary ‘tension’ between design elements that need to be thoughtfully balanced if a garden, regardless of scope, is to enhance utility for our clients.
The principle design considerations that we apply to all our clients’ gardens are outlined below.
Aesthetics.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Most clients have a strong idea of how they would like their garden to ‘look’; this is the aesthetical aspiration which tends to drive the planting scheme.
Our strong advocacy and predominate use of Australian Native Plants is supported by an incredible botanic palette of colour, texture and scale facilitating garden styles that range from structured and formal to naturalistic.
Refuge & Outlook.
One aspect of a useful urban garden is that which invites the observer to occupy it by offering the requisite privacy we naturally desire.
This ‘visual shelter’ proffered by a well structured garden extends to inside the home, where appropriate plant selection and placement can screen suitably whilst framing favourable sight lines.
Light & Shade.
Passive heating and cooling principles have been embraced for millennia. Effective solutions can be applied through a mindful garden design that augments the ‘passive comfort’ an occupant derives from within both the garden itself and the home.
Think of winter morning sun that starts your day or generous shade on a summer’s afternoon.
Ecology.
We will always specify Australian native plants in our garden designs. Sometimes a client specifically requests an exotic inclusion though in most instances we are able to suggest a superior native alternative, usually one that the client was unaware existed.
For us at Prandium Studio, we never underestimate the small actions of many in having a big impact. This groundswell is what supports the aspiration for broader sustainability goals.
The benefit an Australian Native Garden can give to the local ecology and in return to the occupant is too often neglected in garden design.
Not only are Australian native plants better adapted to this continent’s climate they benefit from and support a multitude of native birds, bees and other insects. This is a mutually beneficial dynamic for both owner and the local ecology.
Occupation & Place.
The domestic garden, in all its iterations, can be thought of as a type of room; an occupiable extension of the house within which the house itself sits.
The range of clients’ objectives for this ‘room’ is broad though often includes elements like respite, play, entertainment, aliment or the humble act of tending. All these activities have the common theme of occupation.
By creating a mindful space that encourages occupation of the ‘garden room’, we augment our livability. And by enjoying the garden as an extension of the house we enhance the sense of place, a place you may likely refer to as home.