Cook Residence

This project is located along southland road in Hastings.
The site looks over the Hawkes Bay race course out to the Havelock Hills and Te Mata Peak. The location is important as there is a very busy road on one side of it and then the race course. There were key vistas from the house which needed to be retained and it was important that the garden could also be viewed from the house.

The garden was important to the owners the house had been in their family for a long time they had lived there for 30 years and is a Spanish style villa. They had spent 2 years rennovating the house and a lot of thought had gone into getting all the details right and in style with the architecture through out the whole house and now it was time to redesign the garden, they wanted to get it right and take the time to ensure it was the garden and house related. There is a terrace courtyard on the upper level that we needed to consider in the design. The garden had some key features and trees that we wanted to retain but most of the existing garden was to be removed as part of our design process. There were 3 very large plane trees that were table pruned and they were open to them being removed however we felt they were a key element and a asset to the design and we decided to work around them and incorporate them. A beautiful old Cotinus tree ran along the ground of one of the boundaries which was a stunning asset and was kept and on the northern side there were lovely established Meila and Cornus trees which we wanted to retain as well as a bay tree. The house did not really have a entrance through the garden, so this was a major start to the design to create a sense of entry. They wanted a secluded sheltered courtyard this was important, and it need to connect to the garden, this space became a central point which the entrance lead through, it is a walled courtyard with a lovely gentle water feature. The southern side of the house was a cool space in the summer and has an amazing Cotinus tree, this provided the opportunity to create another space from a more restful private area to retreat from the Hawkes Bay heat in the summer months. The eastern side of the property we developed into a space for different entertainment with a fire and Petanque pist framed by gardens. The planting design had to have seasonal change interest, structure and it meet all these requirements. Development of the formal lawn area was a key part of the design.