From the outset, the landscape brief was closely aligned with the architectural vision, with ecodesign working in parallel with the project architect to ensure a seamless dialogue between house, garden and site.
The homeowners expressed a clear desire for a landscape that felt immersive and contemplative rather than conventional. A koi pond was central to their vision, while traditional lawn areas were deliberately excluded in favour of a layered, garden-led approach that prioritised texture, movement and seasonal change.
A journey through landscape
The sloping site presented both challenge and opportunity. Falling approximately 4.7 metres across the block, the landscape design was shaped around careful site grading and levelling to support both access and experience. Rather than disguising the change in levels, the design embraces it, creating a sequence of outdoor rooms that unfold as a journey through the garden.
The landscape is organised into distinct but connected zones — front garden, side passage, pond garden and rear entertaining area — each offering a different spatial and sensory experience. Arrival from the street is marked by sculpted landforms and layered planting that gradually guide visitors toward the elevated entry of the two-storey home above its basement level.
Design development and detailing
Once the overarching landscape concept was established, detailed layouts were developed for circulation paths, pavements, landforms, planting and the koi pond, enabling the project to progress smoothly through council development approval.
The subsequent detailed design phase involved extensive collaboration with the broader design team. Through 3D modelling, multiple design workshops and a highly iterative process, the landscape was refined across more than twenty design revisions. Particular attention was given to the resolution of key elements including hard landscaping, planting design, garden lighting, the entry stair, integrated storage, and the koi pond itself.
Materials were selected to reinforce continuity between architecture and landscape. Flamed black granite flows from the residence into all external pavements, grounding the outdoor spaces with a sense of permanence. Acrylic-rendered walls in Dulux Raku tones and custom powder-coated metalwork in Monument echo the home’s façade, while providing a quiet, cohesive backdrop for planting.
Planting inspired by Japanese stroll gardens
The planting design draws inspiration from Japanese stroll gardens, reinterpreted for a contemporary Australian context. Tufting grasses such as Poa ‘Eskdale’, Liriope muscari and Lomandra ‘Tanika’ rise through swathes of low groundcovers including Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’, native violet and Myoporum, creating softness and movement.
Mounded shrub groupings — including Buxus, Rhododendron ‘Kirin’, Loropetalum ‘Burgundy’ and Raphiolepis ‘Oriental Pearl’ — are composed to emulate the placement of rocks within a traditional garden. Boundary planting of slender weaver bamboo, black bamboo and viburnum provides screening while allowing filtered light and air movement.
Feature trees such as Acer palmatum ‘Senkaki’, Cercis ‘Forest Pansy’ and cloud-pruned Pinus nigra punctuate views and frame moments throughout the garden, offering sculptural form and seasonal drama.
The koi pond as centrepiece
At the heart of the landscape is the koi pond — a tranquil focal point visible from all major living areas of the home and directly connected to the outdoor entertaining space. Frameless glass fencing maintains visual continuity while meeting pool safety requirements, allowing the water, planting and fish to remain visually present from within the house.
Integrated water features, pond lighting and a floating bench seat enhance the sensory experience, particularly at dusk, when subtle lighting transforms the garden into an intimate evening landscape.
A landscape designed for living
Supporting elements, including a green roof atop the bin storage structure and an integrated storeroom beneath the entry stair, demonstrate the project’s holistic approach to functionality and design. Throughout, garden lighting — from path and step lights to uplighting and pond illumination — has been carefully coordinated to extend the usability of the landscape beyond daylight hours.
The Heng Residence landscape is a considered, highly detailed response to site, architecture and lifestyle — a garden designed not only to be admired, but to be lived in, season after season.
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