Palm Grove

A genuine collaboration — the owner brought strong ideas, Robin brought the structure to hold them together, and the result is unlike anything else. Featured in the Auckland Garden Design Festival 2024.

The design defies easy categorisation. Masonry arches drawn from the owner's childhood memories of her grandfather's garden frame the poolside living space, their colonial character sitting alongside swirling koru-patterned mondo grass parterres at the entrance. A swimming pool and spa are suspended above the garden, water cascading over a weir into a grotto below. Native cabbage trees encircle the space, anchoring the composition firmly in New Zealand despite its strongly European references.

Every corner offers something unexpected. That was always the point.