From Lawn to Living Garden

01Project Introduction

A typical suburban garden: tight lawn, concrete tiles, two shrubs and a fence. The brief was simple — more life, less maintenance, somewhere to actually be.

02Existing Situation

Compacted subsoil under the lawn, rainwater running straight to the drain, and planting with no relationship to the site or to each other.

03Ecological Challenge

The garden shed water and repelled life.

• Compacted soil with almost no organic matter
• Excessive hardscape draining to the sewer
• Isolated planting with no layers and no succession

04Design Strategy

Remove two-thirds of the paving, break the compaction, and rebuild the garden as planted layers around a gravel path that doubles as an infiltration zone. Every downpipe now feeds the garden, not the drain.

08Result

A garden that swallows cloudbursts, feeds pollinators from March to November and needs one maintenance day per season.