PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIK HOLT
DESIGNED BY COS Design / @cos.design
“I wanted the house to be engulfed by garden and the internal vistas, where possible, to look out onto [the] garden,” says Taylor. “And that gave me the opportunity to then implement the garden design around the home, so they were sort of designed as one.”
Structural elements of the home are mirrored in the garden. For example, circular stepping stones repeat the curvature of the pool, which then communicates with the home’s vertical cylinder, where five-meter-tall windows oppose a row of upright silver birches lining the back of the garden. On the other side of those windows, light passes through to feed an internal garden—the lungs of the home, Taylor calls it—which grows in his home office. “The vertical garden hanging off the recycled-timber beam was something that expressed that garden into the upper story and gave that large void a sense of purpose.”
Inside and out, the garden serves to soften the exacting nature of the architectural details—perfectly smooth concrete, dark steel, straight laid planks, and expertly stacked reclaimed bricks. The mix of local coastal natives and exotic plants, with hedges and succulents alongside grasses, and no fewer than nine different ground covers and climbers, layers texture and shades of green to encourage a more casual energy.
“Here in Australia, there’s this resurgence of more eclectic planting, where we have single plant types scattered in and amongst each other to create more interest,” says Taylor. “So, I wanted to play on that and push the boundaries a little bit and mix some plants that normally don’t go together and see how they worked.”
Throughout his yard, from the front of the home and wrapping around the back, Taylor has fig trees, olive trees, ripple jade, coastal rosemary, licorice plants, fountain grass, orange sedge, and more. The hardy varieties can withstand full sun and are mostly self-sufficient, save two months of the year when he uses an irrigation system.
For Taylor, it’s important the garden elevates and integrates with the outdoor living space. “When I design, I get the functionality first, which is the form of all the entertaining areas, and then I look at planting secondary,” he says. Here, his garden pushes against the decks and patios, lays flush against walkways, frames the pool and Jacuzzi, and gently divides the fire pit from the platformed lounge area. “We entertain a lot, and the garden is all about outdoor entertaining.”
To finish the outdoor space, Taylor added an extensive lighting design, including ground spotlights, path lights, base lighting, and some overhead lighting, bringing the functionality well into the evenings, when daily stressors can fully melt away.
“I’m really proud of the house that I’m in at the moment,” he says. “It’s got a lot of my blood, sweat, and tears, and a lot of my heart and soul in it . . . it’s a really lovely space to be in.”
