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Projects

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Matcham

The native forest is the true garden in this project.

In the past, ornamental trees had been planted throughout the property with little thought to composition or relevance. Decades of growth had left the garden feeling congested.

This urge to “civilise” the landscape through ornamental planting as a psychological buffer to the natural environment is a deep seated one but we felt it was important to strip away this thinking and reveal the inherent beauty of the Turpentine’s, Eucalypts and Cabbage Palms of the native forest.

We then laid out a series of courtyards connected to the house and pool that facilitate a direct connection to the natural environment.

CONSTRUCTED - 2016

PROJECT DESIGN - CHRISTOPHER OWEN, ERICA ROWE
ARCHITECTS - SMART DESIGN STUDIO
PHOTOGRAPHY - NICHOLAS WATT

AWARDS
2019 - HOUSES AWARDS, GARDENS OR LANDSCAPE, SHORTLISTED

Mosman

This hillside garden overlooking the harbour first posed an aesthetic challenge as we needed to honour the pre-existing site conditions that included mature plantings of palms and other large leaf species synonymous with Sydney gardens. The challenge instead became an opportunity to refresh a garden aesthetic that has dominated Sydney for a long time.

Our response was to restrict the colour palette to green and though we continued the language of large showy foliage into the new gardens we suffused this with finer textures of ornamental grasses, ferns, and bamboos to create a richer, more complex garden aesthetic.

Beyond the planting scheme, other design elements in the project included reimagining tile combinations for the existing pool, introducing a collection of Atelier Vierkant planters to the terrace and designing a concrete lounge as a destination in the garden.

CONSTRUCTED - 2018

PROJECT DESIGN - CHRISTOPHER OWEN, ERICA ROWE, JAVIERA ORTIZ
ARCHITECT - PANOV SCOTT
CONSTRUCTION - GET SMART LANDSCAPING
MAINTENANCE - GET SMART LANDSCAPING
PHOTOGRAPHY - CHRISTOPHER OWEN

Indigo Slam

“Companions for a thousand years.”

The garden at Indigo Slam is conceptual in its genesis. The idea that two trees sculpted through time to create one was an intuitive response from my first site visit.

Aware that this building will grow in importance to the fabric of Sydney over generations, the concept focused around the feeling that the trees should accompany the building as companions through time, a living connection to its beginning.

Several species were considered but it was evident that the species with the longevity, beauty and hardiness to survive this journey through time would be Ginkgo biloba.

Iteration One - Constructed 2016
Iteration Two - Constructed 2020

PROJECT DESIGN - CHRISTOPHER OWEN, ERICA ROWE, ANITA MADURA
ARCHITECTS - SMART DESIGN STUDIO
CONSTRUCTION - ROWLANDS LANDSCAPES
MAINTENANCE - HORTGRADE
PHOTOGRAPHY - DAVID ROCHE

Paddington

Deceptively simple in appearance this little garden presented a set of technical challenges that needed to be considered carefully.

We are living through an exciting time for landscape practitioners, with a genuine drive from the community, councils and other stakeholders to increase our access to green wherever possible. In our heavily built cities this presents technical challenges from a horticultural perspective – how do you create successful green spaces without access to a natural soil profile – in planter boxes, on slab and vault structures?

This garden is built over a garage that cleverly multiplies the useable space for this young family. Some of the planter boxes are very narrow, reducing soil volume and the lawn is on slab. The garden also has a westerly aspect; so long summer afternoons place a lot of pressure on the plant life within the built structure.

CONSTRUCTED - 2016

PROJECT DESIGN - CHRISTOPHER OWEN, ERICA ROWE
ARCHITECTS - SMART DESIGN STUDIO
CONSTRUCTION - ROWLANDS LANDSCAPES
MAINTENANCE - BESPOKE GARDENS
PHOTOGRAPHY - BRIGID ARNOTT

Skinny Bondi

This tiny garden illustrates how considered planting can bring beauty and function to a disused space.

The young couple that owns this garden apartment wanted to take advantage of the building setback by transforming it into the main access to their apartment.

CONSTRUCTED - 2015

PROJECT DESIGN - CHRISTOPHER OWEN, ANITA MADURA
CONSTRUCTION - DAVID MURPHY
MAINTENANCE - BESPOKE GARDENS
PHOTOGRAPHY - BRIGID ARNOTT

Tread Lightly

The aim of this show garden was to create a sense of place and the illusion of an established garden in what was a temporary installation.

A second but no less important goal was to recycle every construction element, as show gardening is well known as a wasteful sector of the industry. Every component in this design was returned to suppliers or used in actual projects after the event.

CONSTRUCTED - 2014

PROJECT DESIGN - CHRISTOPHER OWEN
CONSTRUCTION - THE PROFESSIONAL LANDSCAPERS
PHOTOGRAPHY - PETER BRENNAN

Haberfield

This garden is an ode to American landscape architects Wolfgang Oehme and James Van Sweden who made it their mission to liberate properties of their vast lawns and dotted evergreen shrubs to show people the beauty of large scale perennial and grass plantings.

The reverse brief for this project was to design gardens that could deftly navigate both the heritage street front and the contemporary addition to the back of the property. There are broadly four garden areas.

The front gardens are set within a streetscape of heritage cottages and were a good opportunity to exercise Oehme and Van Sweden’s design principles. Removing the lawn and perimeter garden beds enabled a free flowing plant palette that fluctuates with the seasons. This garden has been widely celebrated by the local community showing us that people are seeking a sophisticated approach to planting design in Sydney.

Moving through the side of the property, the clients and architects capitalised on the wide setback by utilising this as the new family entry. Separated from the street by a simple timber screen, the planting here is pared back in counterpoint to the voluptuous front gardens. A simple line of steppers wanders through the space with a larger paved area opening up to the new portico.

As you transition from cottage to contemporary concrete addition the experience is one of being enveloped by green. The architects shaped the building to create a courtyard that allows afternoon light to stream into the living space and allows the garden to flow into the building. This is a quiet garden centered on a circular reflection pond. There are seasonal moments throughout the year as trees and shrubs flower and leaves change colour.

Finally we yield to a generous lawn adjacent to the pool for family activities. The garden edge treatment picks up on the sinuous curve of the side passage steppers experienced earlier with a concrete landscape wall defining space and doubling as a casual bench seat. The planting again draws on the work of OvS with sweeps of grasses, flowering perennials and bulbs.

CONSTRUCTED - 2016

PROJECT DESIGN - CHRISTOPHER OWEN, ERICA ROWE, ANITA MADURA
ARCHITECTS - SAM CRAWFORD ARCHITECTS
CONSTRUCTION - RHYSTYLED GARDENS
MAINTENANCE - HORTGRADE
PHOTOGRAPHY - JESSICA HARRIS

AWARDS
2019 - HABERFIELD CELEBRATION OF AUTUMN GARDENS, FIRST PLACE

Centennial Park Garden

Project design - Christopher Owen, Javiera Ortiz, Chaeyeon Lee
Construction - The Professional Landscapers
Maintenance - Hortgrade
Photography - Jessica Harris
Sculpture - Remainder, Jamie North, 2016
The Hammock - Pinaree Sanpitak, 2014/15
Green Ladder - Vo Trong Nghia, 2016

Queens Park

Constructed - 2019

Project Team - Christopher Owen, Erica Rowe
Construction - The Professional Landscapers
Maintenance - Bespoke Horticulture
Photography - Jessica Harris

Woollahra

Constructed - 2019

Project Team - Christopher Owen, Erica Rowe
Construction - Rhystyled
Maintenance - Bespoke Horticulture
Photography - Jessica Harris

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Christopher Owen
Horticulturist and Landscape Designer

The key to successful landscape intervention is through a deep understanding and affinity with the physical, but also the more elusive qualities of landscape. With this insight we can begin to foster the spirit of place. Observations of the play of light and shadow, the tectonic clarity of objects in the environment, the existing patterns of flora, the movement of water, soil life, the path of the sun and winds, lead us to better outcomes for the landscape and, I believe, the best outcomes for us.

This way of seeing landscape is underpinned by technical know-how from nearly thirty years of industry experience.

Email: chris@fieldwork.net.au