A MODERNIST HAVEN

This 1972 home gets a contemporary garden that kids and parents alike absolutely love

- EMILY BELLING

The family living in this Melbourne home are in love with its modernist, 1970s architecture, so they naturally sought a backyard that complemented the aesthetic. Anna Maskiell of Public Realm Lab was able to deliver.

“We are architects who are in love with gardens and who work closely with landscape architects, so we tend to think about gardens in terms of how you occupy them, how you move through them and how they complement internal spaces,” Anna says.

“Our preference is for our clients to be able to live outside or in some kind of in-between space as much as possible, because it’s good for us!”

In light of this, the design centred around the concept of “a series of outdoor rooms” for the family to enjoy comfortably throughout Melbourne’s many different seasons.

Anna’s favourite element of the backyard design is the raised planter edge along the side boundary.

“This little patch of yard gets the best (in fact, only) sun through Melbourne’s very pleasant mid-season,” she says.

“It was really important that we found a way for our clients to sit in the sun with a coffee or tea and be by the water.”

The raised planter edge can function as a seat, drinks ledge or even a stage, as their little ones have shown.

Aesthetic inspiration was drawn from the original home’s modernist architecture, which the team “mined” for design cues regarding colours, textures and materials to be used throughout the garden.