Consider the architecture and colours. Planting kept low to keep signage visible, plant colours compliment the dull red of the building. Subtle colour and textural contrast among the simple planting palette.
A cascade of textural local native plants spilling down the hillside. Planting en masse, textural and subtle colour contrast provides for a bold approach to the home down a zig-zag volcanic stone path and walling.
Contrasting hard and soft materials. Boulders, fine exposed aggregate concrete paving, cobbled borders, textural native planting provides for a low maintenance, high impact public courtyard space.
Driftwood and stone. Inspiration for keeping designed spaces simple and elegant.
Divaricating shrub, Muehlenbeckia astonii / pohuehue shrub. A favourite of mine. Great texture, subtle colours, great en masse, excellent for clipping, wonderful covered in early morning dew droplets.
Internal living spaces “explode” outside into the highly natural landscape. Soaring, uplifting.
Steel and timber pergola. Simple, strong, elegant structure.
Rustic wide macrocarpa decking provides a pleasant outdoor “room with a view”.
Hand placed “cobbles” into exposed aggregate concrete paving allows for individual expression of client’s favourite “found” materials.
Rough sawn uneven width macrocarpa slats provides a visual buffer while allowing the planting to “pass underneath”.
Inner city courtyard. Local Christchurch native plant species include clipped divaricating hedge (Coprosma propinqua / mikimiki), Libertia ixioides (mikoikoi / NZ iris), Blechnum novae zelandiae (kiokio fern), Pseudopanax crassifolius (horoeka / lancewood).
Natural, raw materials. Rough-sawn macrocarpa timber, local greywacke boulder plinth and plastered concrete capping, designed for compatibility with Hunters 1920’s bungalow restaurant nearby.
(Designed while working for Lucas Associates). Natural, raw materials. Macrocarpa timber, exposed aggregate concrete borders, curved gravel path, local native plants provides for intrigue and a clear connection from arrival to wine shop.
Lizard sculptures fixed to courtyard wall. Local clipped divaricating hedge below (Coprosma propinqua / mikimiki)
Gracious home with appropriately scaled multiple, sheltered outdoor living areas. Light coloured, high-quality paving and plasterwork provides warmth, light and a bold contrast with the red brick of the home.
“Raised raked gravel garden” with timber slatted screen provides for a sheltered morning nook. Podocarpus totara / totara rises up through galvanised steel ring.
(Published while working for Lucas Associates). Book: ‘Landscape – Gardens by New Zealand’s Top Designers’ by Rose Thodey and Gil Hanly, featuring chapter on Jeremy Head.
Sheltered eastern breakfast courtyard. Simple, strong materials. Contrast between hefty pillars and beams and fine recycled Canadian oregon slats.
Striking contrast of two of Canterbury’s quirky divaricating plants planted en masse – Muehlenbeckia astonii / pohuehue shrub (at left), and Corokia cotoneaster / korokio (at right).
Rough sawn macrocarpa slats provides permeable screening, defines spaces, and provides a low-cost solution for cladding over potentially unattractive structures. Allowed to weather naturally to silvery-grey.
Birds eye perspective with cutaway roof. A great way to show how various processes work.
Striking, architectural native tree. In full flower (around Labour Weekend in Canterbury).
To mimic a rope, an anodized, perforated steel channel, set flush with deck surface conceals a narrow “tube light”. At one end of the “rope” is a dinghy, at the other a “mooring point” (light pole).
All weather storage in clinker dinghy. Dinghy sides uplit with tube light set in stone mulch. Outdoor table and light pole at left. Frameless glass balustrade maintains uninterrupted views.
One of three moveable seats turned on a lathe, wrapped in spliced rope.
Selection of bold, textural native plants. Great en masse bordering a lawn. Strong contrast, clear definition of edge, subtle colour contrast, low maintenance.
Wide macrocarpa bench seat. Bleached silver in the weather. Fine leaved and branched pohuehue shrub emerges behind. Bold contrast in form, colour, texture. Always effective.
Informative sketch of outdoor entertaining area. Sunken seating nook, water features, expansive decked areas. Local hard materials and plants.
Telling the stories of the place. Boat forms, jetties adjacent to a stream. Clean lines, simple, strong elegant forms, restricted hard materials palette, local native plants.
Marokapara Courtyard at the offices of Lucas Associates, Christchurch. Contemporary courtyard design and garage roof garden exploring 1950’s design cues using Local greywacke in a variety of guises – exposed aggregate paving, plastered block wall, loose stone infill to drainage channel.
Marokapara Courtyard at the offices of Lucas Associates, Christchurch. Contemporary courtyard design exploring 1950’s design cues using Local greywacke in a variety of guises – exposed aggregate paving, ground terrazzo concrete bench seat, plastered block wall, loose stone infill to drainage channel.
Simple, strong, low maintenance design solution. Canterbury themed, exposed aggregate greywacke concrete paving, concrete masonry block planter, loose boulder aggregate “mulch”. Local native plants.
Giant native beech trees, West Coast, New Zealand.
Internal courtyard concept. Living green wall, waterfall, local materials used in various ways – exposed aggregate concrete paving, shuttered concrete walling, honed/terrazzo bench seating, bleached timber, corten steel, fire.
(Designed while working at Lucas Associates). Greywacke – Canterbury Plain’s building blocks used in a variety of ways juxtaposed together. Exposed aggregate concrete, polished/honed terrazzo “bridge”, and natural loose boulder aggregate. Reminiscent of Canterbury’s mighty braided rivers.
Master Plan sets out various areas, establishes levels and materiality. A robust, accurate document to build from.
