COUP DE CŒUR ♥

TRADITIONAL GARDEN MODERNIZATION

We met this client through an Art Gallery shortly after he acquired this exceptional 7 hectares property, designed by Corbiau, in Tervuren.
The client wanted to modernize the garden and adapt it to his generation’s lifestyle as he felt that while the garden was very well done it did not fit his vision of a garden.

The case study was in two parts. The first one was how to manage the hedges and shrubs both in term of maintenance and aesthetics. We reshaped some giving them structure and patterns, we remodeled some lowering them to open new views and perspectives on the private park and provide rhythm.
Then we observed the owner’s lifestyle, personal tastes and interests along with those of his wife and 2 young children in order to create life spaces in the park and the garden.
We needed this understanding in order to get inspired and build appropriate, lively and enjoyable outdoors spaces for everyone while maintaining a certain degree of general coherence.

The house itself had a strong and beautiful presence but the garden was too ornamental and, in a way, too serious looking. To stay in the theme of the of the building’s modern architecture we decided to add some colorful touches, unexpected art pieces and open views upon entering the property.

For the new outdoors life spaces, we chose themes in accordance with the destination, a carrousel, a fountain, a green house and tree house for the children.
The tree house is actually in 3 parts built in 3 trees linked by bridges, one part is a kid’s playroom, one is a bedroom or study room, and one is a tree lounge for a cup of tea or an intimate evening drink.
For the lady of the house, we created an outdoor yoga space made private by a carefully designed and implemented vegetal labyrinth, with a built-in reflexology pathway.
The owner being a car collector, we specifically designed a parking area for him to keep and display his collection.
For the whole family we also created outdoor dining and cooking spaces.

The garden had been planted over 20 years before, in a very conservative and traditional fashion, many trees were at their prime we of course kept the existing vegetation but we gave it a new visual and lifestyle appeal by reshaping and re-landscaping it…this was the design priority. To re-enforce that effect, we used (aside from the wood used for the tree house complex) very modern material, brightly colored terracotta, concrete outdoor kitchen, weathering steel fireplace, all this bringing color to the garden.

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