A monument of contemporary subtropical living, seamlessly blending art, architecture, and landscape.

Our client’s passion for the arts transpires in every aspect of the project. In the landscape, a planting palette of striking form, rich texture, and cohesive tonality was selected to complement the sophisticated architectural language. Guided by this consistent artistic intent, the palette shifts in response to differing microclimatic conditions: shaded internal gardens boast deep lush green foliage, providing privacy and softness to more intimate spaces; sunbathed gardens adjacent to outdoor living spaces are rich with arid planting, in silvery tones and defined forms that speak closely to the materiality of the built form. 

At key moments throughout the gardens, Xanthorrhoea glauca (Blue Grass Tree), some over 200 years in age, emerge as prominent sculptural features. Each tree was hand-selected and carefully arranged on site to suit the visual composition of the gardens. Rescued from development sites, these age-old trees have been given another chance at life in the Dilkera landscape, as living artworks.  

Overlooking the Brisbane River and New Farm Park, the home is an impressive culmination of 7 years of dedication from our clients, the SLa team, and all tradespeople involved.  

Discover Dilkera, where art meets landscape, featuring age-old Xanthorrhoea and a rich planting palette, perfectly complementing the home's architecture.

Dilkera Landscape Architecture Project

From architecture to landscape, ecologically resilient design is at the forefront of Leucadendra.

Situated at the edge of a constructed canal system that wraps into Moreton Bay, the site is a unique meeting point of 3 endemic vegetation groups – freshwater estuary clay wetland, salty coastal grassland, and open eucalypt woodland. To relate to its environment, and ensure the gardens thrive in saline ocean breezes and king tides, we carefully studied local ecology and designed a layered and texturally rich palette of marsh grasses, flowering shrubs, and sprawling coastal groundcovers, softening the boldness of the built architectural form.

Over an 8 year period, our clients meticulously dedicated themselves to developing a home that prioritises climate-passive design – incorporating recycled and locally sourced materials, passive cooling methods and self-sustaining electricity generation. It was paramount that the landscape aligned with and contributed to the principles that underpinned the project. Weeping Melaleuca leucadendra, a tree that thrives in the variable conditions of freshwater ecosystems, anchors the gardens as a symbol of resilience and versatility. 

Leucadendra, where ecological resilience meets design elegance. Explore gardens made for sustainability and inspired by local ecology, nestled by Moreton Bay.

Leucadendra Landscape Architecture Project

An urban oasis blends indoor and outdoor living, grounded within a diverse landscape.

In this inner-city home, we sought to defy the boundaries of the urban context, using landscape at every opportunity to cultivate a sense of privacy, seclusion, and comfort for our clients. 

At every point of the site, greenery interacts with the house - vines climbing columns, groundcovers cascading over walls, the dense foliage of screening trees brushing through battens - to soften architectural lines and blur the connection of indoor and outdoor spaces. The immersion is enhanced with intimate tactile interactions, the textural contrast of smooth stepping stone pathways, soft foliage, and pebbles. Integrated seating invites rest within the greenery, under the filtered sunlight.  

Stepping through the gardens we experience a shift from a sunny coastal heath to a deep layered subtropical alcove. This shift in palette is responsive to the microclimatic conditions of the site, and further complements the architectural transition from public to private spaces.  

Explore our Hazlewood project: an urban oasis that seamlessly integrates indoor and outdoor living with diverse landscaping.

Hazlewood Landscape Architecture Project

Where the Mediterranean meets subtropical Queensland.

With an intent to celebrate the Mediterranean style in a contemporary light,  the strong architectural form of Arcos is anchored with a mature olive tree, grounding the home with its scale, age, and sculptural form. Surrounding gardens are richly planted with a blend of native Australian and Mediterranean species, creating a highly textured composition of silvery tones, matte blues, and deep greens.  

Opportunities for planting are integrated throughout the architecture, with raised gardens, vertical growing structures, and connections to natural ground. The long, suspended planter wrapping around the rear of the building is a prominent feature of the property, hosting a mixture of cascading sun-loving groundcovers. Framing the expansive entertaining space in a curtain of greenery, these hanging gardens create a lively ambience under filtered sunlight. 

Arcos, where Mediterranean charm blends with Queensland's subtropics. Discover our garden's silvery tones and vibrant greens, perfect for outdoor living.

Arcos Landscape Architecture Project

At its core, this inner-city block emphasises a harmonious relationship between indoor and outdoor living. Focusing on the intersections of landscape and architecture, the design allows the young family to seamlessly move between house and garden. Informal stepping stone pathways invite you through the gardens, and into intimate natural pockets that bring a sense of wonder and relief – uncommon within the bustling CBD.

The simplistic, yet purposeful planting selection of muted silvers and greens, complements the architectural materiality of soft pink brick and white painted walls. Through an unstructured layering of hardy succulents and soft flowering shrubs emerge feature Brachychiton rupestris (Queensland Bottle) trees, which anchor the garden with their sculptural form and bring a sense of place within South East Queensland.

Discover the Union project: A serene, inner-city sanctuary where architecture meets landscape, perfect for family living and natural exploration.

Union Landscape Architecture Project

The historical Heritage-listed house was architecturally reimagined into a modern family home, which sympathetically balances old and new, traditional and contemporary. This confluence of opposites carries through in the gardens. Upon arrival, sunbathed entry gardens are planted with hardy native coastal planting, with muted tones and sculptural forms that complement the elegant architectural language. Moving through to more private spaces, the soft deep green foliage of subtropical rainforest planting calls for tranquillity in a protected oasis - a sentiment anchored by a calming water feature at the heart of the home.  

These natural microclimate transitions can be experienced firsthand through winding bush stone pathways, a naturalistic locally sourced materiality that firmly grounds and celebrate place. Natural play elements - timber balance beams, rolling lawns, jumping boulders - were incorporated to encourage play and exploration, creating a multi-faceted landscape that can be enjoyed by the family for years to come. Ecological resilience was an essential consideration - backing onto the Brisbane River, the vast embankment was terraformed and planted with endemic riparian species to minimise erosion in extreme weather events. A rustic fire pit perches atop this embankment - creating a vantage point to immerse yourself in the riverine landscape. 

Glenrae Project: A Heritage-listed home melded with modern touches. Experience tranquil gardens and eco-friendly design near the Brisbane River.

Glenrae Landscape Architecture Project

A playful family home, breathing from the inside.

This family home garden was developed in collaboration with Dan Young Landscape Architect. Designed by Dan Young, the central courtyard is a breathing core of layered subtropical greenery. It was carefully moulded to be experienced from different perspectives - from the upper levels, filtered views through the canopies of a grove of tree ferns; from the ground level, they can be traversed over rolling mounds of greenery.  

The backyard, designed by Green Care Project, is a family-centred productive meadow, inviting inhabitants to play, lounge, and grow food. In this process, we explored ways to close the loop with construction materials and reduce waste. We repurposed defective concrete stormwater pipes from a local civil infrastructure supplier as raised food garden beds, which also doubled as retaining for the rolling lawn. 

Grove Garden: a family home where indoors breathe with nature. This home features a lush courtyard and a productive backyard by Green Care Project.

Grove Garden Landscape Installation Project

Playful and productive - two key concepts that anchored our design intent for this exciting project.

In collaboration with Prandium Studio and Arcke, the underlying intent for River Hearth House was to restore vitality to the land, a beautiful alignment with our Mission and Values.

In purposeful moments, the architecture frames and celebrates key interactions with landscape, allowing the family to connect with the gardens from the comfort of indoors. The rear aspect from the living room embraces a mature Libidibia ferea (Leopard Tree) in the foreground, and a tranquil vista to the river in the distance. Moving from public to private spaces, the circulation around the site shifts in materiality - a more formal grass paver treatment at the driveway guides to playful round pavers upon entering the home, finally blending into natural stone steppers and boulders at the rear. Here, a dry creek bed enhances both aesthetic and functional value – naturally improving overland flow, and celebrating the connection with the river. The embankment is richly planted with native riparian species, creating wildlife habitat and giving back to the local Brisbane River ecosystem. 

Designed to restore vitality and celebrate landscape, it features thoughtful architecture and native plantings that enrich the Brisbane River ecosystem.

River Hearth House Landscape Installation Project

An intimate connection of indoor and outdoor living.

Designed by Dan Young Landscape Architect, the Beck project aims to blur the boundary between home and garden.

A central courtyard brings nature closer to home, bringing a sense of calm and ease. At the lower level, stepping stones guide an intimate path through low tropical planting, inviting inhabitants to immerse themselves in the landscape. A central Betula nigra - Tropical Birch - grows tall above the void, its canopy at the level of the upper living spaces creating a backdrop of greenery. This deciduous tree loses its foliage in winter, celebrating the shifting seasons in everyday life.

Explore the Beck project, where home meets garden in a seamless blend, featuring tropical plantings and a central courtyard that invites calm and connection.

COLLABORATORS
landscape architecture	Green Care Project
landscape install	Green Care Project
architect	Shaun Lockyer Architects
builder	CGH Constructions
photography	Christopher Frederick Jones
video	The Local Project