CLARENCE: City living often mean fitting all of life's essentials
into a small footprint,
sometimes at the expense of outdoor space
and a connection to nature.
Yeah, g'day.
Good to see ya.
But nature was the key concept when it came to renovating this home
In his day-to-day work, renowned landscape architect Sacha Coles
strives to make plants integral parts of any space.
As a landscape architect,
I'm acutely aware of the benefits of green space
and green space being a real positive towards mental health
and just wellbeing in general.
And it was these principles that guided the design
for his own home - an inner city terrace in Sydney's Redfern.
Tell me about the inspiration behind this renovation.
So we've lived here for 15 years and it was time. Growing family.
Every room, I wanted to be seeing greenery, framing it somehow.
So it's a really important part of the entire story of the place
So this is a totally different space altogether.
The lower floor flows into a tropical atrium.
Everything's connected into it.
You've got these beautiful, beautiful cabbage-tree palms.
The Livistonas, we brought in, you know, pretty mature,
as you can see.
And they bring your eye up to the sky,
but they also fit in with what's around as well.
All the other palms and the neighbours.
So this would be a tough... tough little space to design to.
Yeah, it is, 'cause it gets no light, really.
No direct light.
So the plants we've chosen here are all of those plants
that are shade-loving, like Colocasias.
The elephant ears.
Lilies. Things like the ferns down here, native ferns.
They're doing really well because it's nice and moist, the soil,
and no direct sun.
And the big wall that's blocking all of that light
You've got this massive and absolutely stunning feature.
That was given to us, the elkhorn by a mate of ours -
a neighbour, actually -
and it kind of got too big for his place,
so this is the right spot for it
You don't need a lot.
I mean, what's this? 3.5m by 4?
And from the back of the house and from inside our living room,
this is the view that you see.
So it's all composed around that
It's... Yeah, it's beautiful.
The centrepiece of Sacha's design is a green roof
that provides insulation to the living space below.
Alright. This is great.
Come on out to the roof park. Wow.
This plant-covered roof also creates biodiversity
and a tranquil urban garden.
So what were some of the challenges that you were faced with?
If you get the right team involv from the beginning,
it's not like just putting a bit of soil
and then chucking some plants in
Don't get me wrong, it's not completely difficult,
but you need expert help with this
because everything from the structural design -
you don't want water resting on a roof, its weight.
I would suggest you need some good engineering input.
A roof like this is done in layers
So we've got a concrete structure which spans edge to edge.
And then on top of that is waterproofing, two layers,
which is flame torched on, and then a bit of drainage cell
and then a little bit of jute matting,
and then the soil that sits on top of that.
So, yeah, the soil selection is really important,
the plant selection is important
but making sure it's irrigated is really the key.
Mate, you really filled this space out.
Yeah.
So the idea with the planting
is that because this is east-west block,
north is up there, gets a lot of shade.
So we put the shade tolerant plants over there
and they've gone gangbusters.
But the garden is kind of designed in zones.
So the bits that get more sun over here
are different to these ones over here.
This plectranthus is the winner in terms of pollinators,
like the bees and the wasps.
This is the stuff that they go for
Plants... You know, hard-working plants, I should say
Hard to kill. Gazanias.
But I... My personal favourite, I love the Hardenbergia.
I think it's just a beautiful scrambling plant out here.
So you've got all the... the different forms,
different colour, different foliage
This...
The knobby-headed club-rush, one of my favourites.
You wouldn't expect to see this on a roof.
That's the thing that you see when you're downstairs looking up
You can see this - the Isolepis, or the club-rush.
And because all of this area here would have been swamp,
so I really like that kind of narrative
back to the idea that we're putting something back
that maybe once would have grown here.
Yeah, yeah. And it's not always about the flowers.
Not at all! No! It's the form! Yeah, yeah.
You know, beautiful. Moves in the wind.
There's no doubt that making plants and green space a priority,
even in a small home, has a huge impact on our wellbeing
and can have a positive influence on the environment around us.
This is a model that can be replicated by anyone and should be
And if we could green our cities
that would be unbelievably beneficial for everybody,
community as a whole.
It's water. Glass of water. Cheers, yeah. Glass of water.