Situated on an island site in Fulham, the design revives an entire street block of new and existing housing, office and retail space and restaurants within the heart of Fulham’s previously dilapidated central shopping area. The first-floor roof garden has been conceived as a ‘secret garden for modern city living’, providing residents and office workers in the area with a much-needed communal space to enjoy and relax in.The roof terrace design is derived from the concept of a Californian dry garden which complements the approach to the new architecture. The gardens are planted with Palms, Yuccas, Cordylines and Agaves, which float in raised ‘islands’ on pale coloured paving to reflect light.Coloured stainless steel and ceramic tiles enrich the refined material palette. Planters and gym equipment stations are both clad in coloured stainless steel to integrate these sculptural objects within the landscape. Coloured ceramic tiles form the edge to the building facades, which are bridged by timber walkways at the building entrances. Fountain jets set on a curve add a refreshing strand of water across the terrace.At night the forms of the landscape are accentuated by the up-lit water features and the fibre optic lighting embedded within the underside of the planter wall coping, which omit light infused with the reflected colours of the stainless steel planters.
