TOWNHOUSE GARDEN
Palma, Mallorca
THE BRIEF
The client was a professional couple with their two small children. The family had bought a new build semi-detached townhouse in Palma. When we started the project the lower ground floor was only a building site with an excavation for a swimming pool.
The boundary of the space was made up by large walls. The walls felt oppressing and the facade of the opposite house was also unattractive. There was a lot of concrete in the ground due to the supporting base of the new walls around the garden.
The brief was fairly open but the client asked for a Mediterranean garden with lots of green and silver foliage. They also wanted to soften the feel of the walls and screen the view to the opposite house.
Photo: Pär Olsson
THE DESIGN
We maximised the space by breaking up the areas and turned the space into different ’rooms’. We constructed raised beds adding height to the plants. A built-in bench was designed to make room for seating along the swimming pool and to store toys and outdoor equipment.
The walls were dressed with evergreen climbers; Scented beautiful Trachelospermum jasminoides and Hedera helix for an all year round green space. We avoided deciduous and littering plants due to the proximity to the pool. Perennials and ornamental grass mixed with evergreen shrubs provided structure in the planting. Creeping rosemary was planted in troughs to fountain down the stone wall.
A beautiful tall Arechastrum palm tree at the back added a nice shadow play to the walls and distracted the views to the opposite house. To give more character to the garden we redesigned one of the concrete walls to a stone wall by the dining area.
We choose small olive trees in pots to act as focal points.
The discreet lighting in the garden beds gave a nice illuminating touch to the plants in the night.
