PROPERTY PROFILE MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE TEAM AT JUNCTION MAGAZINE
Q&A WITH THE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT OF BOATHOUSE BAY
Award winning landscape architects Boffa Miskell have brought their expertise in landscape architecture to the Boathouse Bay development, Snells Beach, enhancing the value and sustainability of the natural, built and social environment. Renowned landscape architect Rachel de Lambert and her team have taken the lead in creating a unique landscape design, which includes revegetation of grazed pasture and, working with coastal process specialist Jim Dahm, restoration of sand dunes. What natural characteristics of this site really appealed to you when you first visited? The site is amazing in terms of its natural attributes, it’s tucked in at the end of Snells Beach with a forested escarpment and headland behind and the long sweep of the bay in front. A totally dramatic New Zealand coastal landscape.
What were the key elements that you wanted to include in the design? We were keen to set the scene for a community of people living in a really special environment who would know each other and feel part of a small enclave, not a gated community but a place set apart from the norm. Boathouse Bay isn’t a suburban development it’s designed as a community where public, communal and private meld into a special living environment. It’s like a mews development where the shared space sets stage for people feeling they belong. What features have been incorporated to allow this to be the low-maintenance property that the buyers are looking for? We’re creating a very low maintenance, rough, coastal look, using indigenous plants that grow naturally here on the coast. We are investing in plants for the long term, quality species chosen to
look after themselves after a few years. All the other materials we use will be hard-wearing as well and belong to this landscape – from shells to hardwood. What elements have been incorporated to future proof the design? The main future proofing lies in the levels of the site; sea level rise and coastal storms are obviously a key consideration so the house floor levels as well as the level of the actual site have been carefully set in that respect. Then it comes back to materials and plant selection, we have specified hardy, robust native plants and durable materials with an eye to longevity. At the end of the day there’s no such thing as ‘no maintenance’ but Boathouse Bay has been designed with consideration given to nature of the environment and to how people want to live. www.boathousebay.co.nz
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