This garden in Dublin has two elements; the formal rear garden and the entrance-area front garden.  The whole site suffered steeply-sloping coutours, back and front, and  taking this into consideration it was neccessary to completely re-contour the whole site to provide usable outside space.

In the front arrival area, the slope was such that it was difficult to access a car or remove shopping from it; the slope caused the door of a parked car to slam shut. Martin created a inital access driveway with a pale grey resin-bonded surface, edged with contrasting warm buff granite setts which are then used in the levelled carparking areas to either side. A pedestrian walk from road level with steps up to the parking level was also created.

The rear garden also had a steep incline from the rear boundary towards the house. The owner wanted a formal garden of straight lines and geometric shape, and an important factor was screening the house and garden from a new multistory development at the rear boundary.

A major portion of the job was the resculpting of the shap incline into two levels,separated by a retaining wall; this entailed major earth removal and construction works. Martin laid the upper level out as a lawn for the owner’s children to play football and trampolining, this is surrounded at a slightly higher level by formal walkways.

The lower level is a generous, sunny, south-facing entertainment area which is accessed from both the upper garden level and directly from large sliding doors in the kitchen/diningspace., bordered by planters with integrated seating and glazed panels.

For more on this garden and its planting plan, see here.