Weaving heritage sensibility into garden form, Landscape Designer Andy Murray describes his approach for the grounds of Gridded House that befit an active family.
Carr and landscape designer Andy Murray have worked together for many years and share a love for the duality between the built form and sprawling green spaces.
Working together on Gridded House, Andy explains how the architecture informed his design for a park-like garden that allows the family of five ample space to play, while referencing the home’s heritage detailing.
Carr: How would you describe your overall style and approach to landscape design?
Andy Murry: I find great satisfaction in designing gardens that are very different from one another. Some are rigid and ordered, some playful, loose and free. I aim to design gardens in keeping with the architectural context and in line with the brief.
I am very passionate about what I do and feel the process of making a garden should be as exciting and pleasant as possible.
I am very passionate about what I do and feel the process of making a garden should be as exciting and pleasant as possible.”
Describe the landscape design for Gridded House. What were the drivers, considerations, and inspiring elements?
Gridded House’s landscaping called for a garden with ample lawn for the active family. This led to an open and almost park-like space large enough to kick a football, with minimal and monocultural planting.
The big challenge was to make this interesting and finding subtle ways to add horticultural depth. This saw me break up the lawn with deciduous canopy trees, which will provide shade over time. While massed grasses, like Miscanthus, provide movement in the wind and seasonal change.
I specifically designed a massed ground-cover mix that would read at a distance as one, while up close providing subtle detail and seasonal variation in texture and flowers.
I abstracted the home’s internal heritage gridded theme throughout the garden by using stone steppers.”
How did the home’s heritage design influence your approach to the garden design?
I abstracted the home’s internal heritage gridded theme throughout the garden by using stone steppers.
Australian bluestone locally supplied by Bamstone was sourced for its versatility in custom sizing and provided large format steppers, custom oversized ashlar patterns and full-size curbing pieces for steps. The stone was grit blasted to match the existing heritage detail on the house, creating a restrained and modern garden with heritage bones.
What is your favorite part of Gridded House’s garden?
I am quite fond of the large steppers up through the grasses out the front. I like the scale and angles with the grasses spilling over, which then opens out to the huge lawn.
That said, it’s hard to have an all-time favourite part of a garden. Sometimes my favourite part of one of my gardens surprises me.
Read more about how Gridded House was reimagined through a design that celebrates its heritage, while enabling the home to evolve.
