One questions the sense of ‘landed-ness’ in a typically maxed-out envelope of a semi-detached typology. What is usually left over after the building footprint is no more than a slender planting strip on the ground. Hence, one of the prime motivations of this house was to seek out more garden spaces/surfaces in an attempt to redress this imbalance while we fulfill the client’s brief. The vertical wall planting set within a niche along the front boundary wall and the shrubbery on the car-porch roof, reclaim surfaces otherwise normally neglected as canvasses for beautification. Enclosing part of the building facade on the upper floor is a layer of planting system devised to behave more like a curtain wall. Its primary function is to perform as a privacy screen and to keep the rain out. They were particularly thrilled with this detail as it approximates to an organic envelope. The curtain of plants coincides building performance with man’s affinity for nature.via
