White Rooftop Garden

Don discovered an ultra modern garden and entertainment area on the roof of a Melbourne office building. Jamie Loft, Landscape Designer and Company Director of the garden and pool design business 'Out From The Blue', gave Don a guided tour of the neo-industrial style rooftop. Jamie worked on the project with Landscape Architect Mira Martinazzo. They explained that the thing they loved most about the space was that it was open to the sky, but they had to come up with a design to hide the large air-conditioning unit and ugly red brick wall.

Design features

A fantastic waterfall has been constructed using swimming pool solar heater pipe. The jets give the falling water a distinctive, almost braided appearance as it tumbles down over a backdrop of steel panels and falls into a steel collection tub. The red brick wall has been painted with Murowash in an Aubergine colour. The planting scheme features sedum, agave and yucca. These succulents are low maintenance, they can cope with the hot, windy conditions on the roof and they suit the neo-industrial design. A long, galvanised steel trough has been mass planted with cheerful yellow daffodils, which contrast beautifully with the aubergine wall colour. Plywood has been used to build a large table over the top of the air-conditioning unit, and milk crates covered with ferro-cement make very comfortable seats. Mira sums the design up as simple, open, clean and bold.

Further information

Out From The Blue
48 Church Street
Hawthorn, VIC, 3122
Phone: (03) 9855 1950

Murobond paint is available Australia wide. For your closest outlet contact Murobond Coatings, phone (02) 9906 7299, fax (02) 9439 7593.

Copyright CTC Productions 2000