The Vogue Haus has hit the market! Designed by award winning architect Joe Adsett, and built by luxury construction company Graya, Brooke’s Blooms had the pleasure of designing and building the landscape for this iconic home.
Both the interior and exterior of the Vogue Haus exhibit a masterclass in minimal neutrality. With layered and contrasting textures, and a considerable nod to the mid-century modern, the house is an incredible example of contemporary design. It was therefore integral that the gardens tied in with this style. The landscape had to accentuate the minimalist beauty of the exterior and tie in with the balance of the interior. The final product is spectacular, and we at Brooke’s Blooms feel it serves to appropriately complement the overall design.
The front of the Vogue House exhibits narrow ground-level beds, coupled with a second story suspended garden. The latter serves a multitude of purposes as it acts as both an aesthetic marker for the house, as well as a green oasis for the balcony opening. As a result, this suspended garden functions as both an outward and inward feature. The finished design is a collection of Cacti and Succulents layered intricately, yet purposefully. When one gazes at the architecture of the home, the standout feature is the collection of Cephalocereus Senilis that extend skyward in long cylindrical columns. The person is also faced with the Senecio Senilis that sprawls across the garden bed and cascades out over the façade. Visible to the naked eye are clusters of Crassula Ovata Minima, Crassula Ovata Gollum, and Agave Victoria-Reginae. Each collection of planting creates a kaleidoscope of colour and texture. When the owner of the home views the garden from the balcony top, they are afforded a bird’s eye view. The suspended garden materialises in front of their eyes and the scope of the allotment is breathtaking.
The ground-level gardens at the front of the house are designed to tie in with the balcony planter. Minimalism was the brief here, with stand-alone Cacti coupled with a simple white pebble. Optunia Fiscus-Indica and Agave Attenuata x Agave Ocahui are the predominant features of these gardens and allow for a layered and textured appeal. Dotted in minor beds surrounding the garage is a similar concept displaying Echium Pachanoi and Agave Striata, with the softening charm of the Crassula Ovata Minima.
The courtyard gardens follow a similar theme to the front. Dead centre to the house, and tying in with the accompanied pool, the theme for this area is consistent with the minimality of the outer façade. This area is a place of quiet and leisure. Therefore, the garden had to transport the proprietor to another place. Central to this garden is the iconic and often stoic Euphorbia Ingens. Coupled with Echium Pachanoi, and layered with Madagascar Ocotillo and Agave Striata, this area presents an abundance of eye-catching features. A smattering of Crassula Ovata Minima provides the obligatory frosting, and a variety of purposefully placed feature pots ties the space together.
The wonderful digression of the theme is found at the far right of the home, or what some would consider the rear façade. It is here that the design takes a considerable turn and offers a nod to the subtropical climate it encompasses. This garden was designed to tie in with the entertainment area of the house and had to offer the home both privacy and tranquillity. This landscape presents a layered garden that exhibits the iconic Alocasia Calidora, the Heliconia Psittcorum, Ravenala Madagascariensis, Guzmania Lingulata, Sanseveria Trifasciata, the stunning Lucuala Ramsayi, and finally, the ever-popular Dichondra Repens. The design is a lush proliferation of texture What it offers the home is a softening of quality, a place of serenity.
The beauty of the Vogue Haus landscape lies in the certain ambiguity of the design. An ambiguity that takes the proprietor of the garden on a journey through space and time. It begins with an excursion through a minimalist wonderland encompassing all sorts of Cacti and Succulents. It takes them through Palm Spring, the exotics of Monaco, the desert cities of Spain. As they journey through the centre of the home, the palate becomes softer, the planting more consistent. The foliage takes on a variety of texture and colour, until finally they enter the rear of the house. An area so foreign to the rest of the design, they wonder if they are in a different place. It is a tropical wonderland of broad green leaves and colours and textures. A space that serves to soften the potential rigidity of the Cacti-heavy design. Yet what this person will undoubtably notice is that, counter to the common perception, an ideology that focuses on theme and continuity, this design ties everything together perfectly. In this landscape nothing is out of place. In this design everything flows. What makes this landscape so wonderfully unique is its well-considered break from traditional processes. The design is poignant and beautiful, and it serves a unique and specific purpose – to take its observer on a journey, a journey that they will never forget.
