by Isabel Duprat

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The proximity of tall buildings plaguing the land made the place uncomfortable, either because of the feeling of total lack of privacy or the certainty that the space was out of scale. The ground appeared to be compressed.  It is surprising how often we can reverse this feeling. The house in Sao Paulo designed by Marcio Kogan is located near one of the edges of the property and I suggested a small change in order to save the beautiful existing Sibipiruna (Caesalpinia pluviosa). The opposite edge has a mass of palms and trees that have been preserved by a stone wall that I built to secure the vegetation quota, as the house was built 1 meter above the old building. This wall entering the pool forms a screen, giving the necessary distance from the border and creating a generous space for the incorporation of more plants to the existing ones, bringing depth and warmth to the garden.  

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I drew the pool like water that was surrounded by vegetation almost like a flowerbed that had the property to reflect and illuminate. To reinforce this feeling, I used a gray slate flooring, which mimics the sky providing a peculiar alternation of colors as the light changes. 

 

Layers of vegetation were created where a leafy jaboticaba tree joins a few Tabebuias, which turn yellow at the end of Winter, as well as a group of vertical structured trees, such as Triplaris and Calycophyllum spruceanum, and other wide canopied trees, such as Jacaranda caroba and the purple tabebuia (Handroanthus impetiginosus), which catch our attention and distance us from the impact of the tall buildings around.  

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The grass-jointed basalt floor provides accesses and walkways through the garden, where I planted flowering shrubs and bushes, such as Medinilla, Sobralia macrantha, several begonias and Crinum.

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