Mark Newdick, landscape architect, says the garden (completed in 2020), takes inspiration from another of his works in the capital, the Webb Street Garden which won the NZILA award for small projects in 2017. The name ‘Te Whare Mara’ references the views from the property of the Wellington Botanic Gardens.

Te Whare Mara’s layered courtyard provides a sheltered and private centrepiece “…around which the house is wrapped to provide pleasant, carefully manipulated views from its most important spaces”, says Newdick. “Stepped steel, concrete, and timber elements navigate the hilly site to provide a consistent but flexible design language which is able to respond to the various needs of each space, not at least, the steep terrain.”

Newdick says the boundary treatments were carefully considered to blend in with the “borrowed landscape” beyond and to screen unwanted views.

The planting exploits a wide range of textures and colours to celebrate and promote our indigenous landscape and identity. Small divaricating trees and shrubs provide fine, delicate textures which contrast with the bolder strappy planting.

Ground covers alternate with the stepped ground plane, while small trees and lancewoods play with the verticality of the house and terrain. The eye is led up over fencing to foster a connection with the landscape of the forest and the sky beyond.

The fencing has been carefully designed to be both elegant and recessive to ensure the garden in front takes centre stage. Palings of varying height, depth and thickness blend in with the planting to create a seamless transition from the inner garden to the bush-clad hills beyond. At certain times of the day and night, the palings provide shadow-play and smooth the transition between flat and sloping areas of the site. Both side yards are protected by bespoke perforated powder-coated steel sliding gates to minimise footprint and create continuity with the steel planters.

At night, the courtyard takes on a new life with carefully planned lighting integrated under benches, in steps and against walls. This not only showcases the garden but introduces a shadow play on the house and engages with the interior lighting to provide myriad gradients between indoor and out.

Newdick says the project brief was to develop a comprehensive landscape treatment around the home that related strongly to the existing and proposed architecture and the site’s indigenous landscape context. The client wanted, he says, a visionary landscape treatment for the courtyard to provide both an attractive outlook from the house and a sophisticated representation of contemporary landscape architecture in Aotearoa.

He says they also wanted him to consider how the courtyard physically, visually, and conceptually connects with other parts of the garden and the landscape context beyond and to develop boundary treatment around the whole property to provide privacy, and shelter without unnecessarily affecting views or sunlight access. They also wanted the planting throughout the garden to be bold, textural, and lush.

The clients also wanted the first level of the upper garden to be developed into a utility area with a workshop/shed, herb garden and washing line with the upper garden area to include a food production area with raised vegetable beds and an orchard.

Newdick feels the finished project is “a sophisticated representation of contemporary Landscape Architecture in Aotearoa.”

First published 25 May 2022 on Landscape Architecture Aotearoa.