Secret Garden

The starting point

The 420 square metre garden dating from 2003 had long ceased to match the owners' expectations. Newly built apartment blocks finally tipped the balance: the planting could no longer screen the buildings sufficiently, and living quality was increasingly impaired.

Other shortcomings had accumulated: the old pond, in its organic shape, had no relation to the clear architecture of the house, the lawns were broken up too heavily by shrubs and trees, the screening towards the public path only partly served its purpose, and the timber decks at the house were defective.

Among the central wishes was to bring the element of water into the garden. The biotope was to continue at its existing level while incorporating a second biotope at a lower level.

The solution

«The architectural concept of the house builds on different levels – we are doing the same with the water in the garden», was the basic idea. It was realised with two made-to-measure water basins from Semadeni as well as two pergola-like steel frames serving as climbing supports with a screening function.

As the central element of the terrace construction, the water flows across two levels from a smaller into a larger basin. The black plastic basins are framed by IPE timber decks and small planted gravel areas. Because of the dense development, the actual execution was marked by various logistical challenges – including delivering the large basins.

The outcome

In this densely populated neighbourhood a hidden garden world emerged, a «Secret Garden» that matches the architecture of the house in form and expression. Water lilies and koi are equally at home there. The garden made the shortlist of the Taspo Awards and took an outstanding third place.