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To design a garden is to shape a personal sanctuary that is enveloped by the beauty of nature. However, not all homes come with the ample space required to create a thriving garden. In such cases, transforming outdoor spaces like terraces and balconies into pockets of green is the best way to introduce nature into your home. Taking inspiration from homes in the AD archives, here are our recommendations on how to design a garden.
Add Hanging Creepers
On the twelfth and thirteenth floors of a tower in Kozhikode, is a duplex apartment that enlivens the Garden of Eden. Foliage climbs up the walls and spills off the balconies, while a dazzling scarlet staircase takes centre stage, holding a mirror to the forbidden fruit. For designers Priya Rose and Rahul Mathew of the multidisciplinary collective Workers of Art, the idea of aerial gardens seemed like a fitting reflection of the new homeowners, a newlywed couple and their long-time friends.
Although the smaller balconies of the home are not accessible, they are filled with greenery, providing a stunning backdrop for the interior spaces. The plants and vines from the floor above also find their way down, creating an additional curtain between the indoor and outdoor areas. The linear balcony features a repurposed wooden trunk filled with plants. The large, double-height balcony is equipped with louvres and glass, making it usable even during Kerala's monsoon season.
Original text by Vaishnavi Nayel Talawadekar, edited for context.
A Pergola To Appreciate The View
In Bandra, the highrises with their stern faces made of steel and glass, sit comfortably next to yellowing villas which are a constant reminder that this was once a fishing village. An apartment designed by Shiraz Jamali Architects, mixes the two universes with a compelling design story. The apartment, spread across 1,575 square feet with an 835-square-foot terrace, overlooks the lanes of Bandra, as the sweeping expanse of Arabian sea unfolds in the distance. “We wanted the space to resonate with the charming cottages that this house overlooks,” says Jamali, adding, “Inspired by this we created a home that is a celebration of old-world charm.” The terrace, furnished with different seating arrangements, features a pergola— an arched structure which can be covered with climbing plants—and an outdoor bar. Breezy and spacious, it opens up to uninterrupted views and serves as an ideal spot to unwind with family and friends.
Original text by Avni Raut, edited for context.
Planters That Double As Seating
Located in a high-rise residential development in a once suburban, now vibrant, is a 2,500-square-foot home in Chennai that has the welcoming nature of a family home, reflective of the city’s tropical modern aesthetic. The bedroom of this home opens onto a private terrace that beckons with its tropical landscape and panoramic vistas. Locally sourced materials, such as cudapa stone and grey cement oxide, blend seamlessly with native plants and Corten steel planters. This built-in cement oxide-finished concrete planter-cum-seating runs the entire edge of the private terrace and encloses a secret garden-esque space, creating an oasis amidst the urban jungle.
Original text by Ashna Lulla, edited for context.
A Barsati Home
A barsati boasts the modern-day comforts rivalling any other luxury home. Initially built to house domestic staff, today these terrace flats are rented out to tenants or even allow members of a large joint family to live within the same home but with their own privacy. When interior designer Aditi Sharma’s friends embarked on expanding their family, they, too, were looking for a place to call their own in their current family home in Noida. “They wanted a fully functional space with everything thought through, from a small nursery for a baby and a home office to a bar, fully equipped kitchen and pantry." Entering the apartment through the terrace, which is decorated with an abundance of plants and comfortable seating, we walk into the living room which trickles seamlessly into the small open kitchen, partially separated by a concealed bar unit.
Original text by Ela Das, edited for context.
Go Vertical
A vertical garden offers the perfect solution to creating green spaces in apartments that seemingly get smaller, while buildings continue to get taller. Such was the case of this ancestral home in Kochi, where the clients requested the architect to recreate the atmosphere of a traditional house surrounded by greenery in the bones of a modern multi-storey building surrounded by commercial shops. The fusion of contemporary and traditional design is present throughout the home, with the dining room and living room both facing an open-to-sky courtyard, a staple element of traditional homes found in Kerala. The design of the courtyard also allows for the creation of a vertical garden, thus fulfilling the client's request to be able to see greenery from most rooms of the home.
Original text by Khushi Sheth, edited for context.
