Our brief involved designing a year-round wheelchair accessible garden design for a disabled individual with limited mobility, ensuring that it could be enjoyed and maintained with minimal assistance from a gardener.
The Brief – Wheelchair Accessible Garden Design
Our client brief was to design a wheelchair accessible garden on a very sloping site, that would suit a young family. As well as give access to other family members who are wheelchair users.
This was a complex site. In part due to the sloping and tapering layout. All the way from the back to the front of the plot. Some of the width will have to accommodate new retaining walls to either side as well.
It was important to understand that the garden would have limited views beyond its own confines.
Because the site has over 6 metres of elevation from house to the car parking deck. When this is combined with the aforementioned retaining walls to either side.
Slope Planting
Our well designed, bold and beautiful planting will really make this garden. Bringing the sloping beds alive, to lead the eye around the garden.
- The soil type and aspect of your garden
- Light and moisture levels in your garden
- The style you would like for your garden
- How much time you want to spend on plant/garden maintenance
- Any special requirements you have told us about
Materials
It was important that the view to the car deck did not make the cars feel imposing. So we opted for screening of full height floral concrete blocks. Typically associated with a 70’s aesthetic – if they are used well they look great. Just avoid using them with a part height solid block wall. Be bold and make a statement with them of a full height wall. Because that repeating pattern is wonderful at distracting the eye.
Blue Pennant Sandstone is native to the area. It has a blue grey colour with wonderful rich brown iron oxide deposits in it. So we specified it in the form of stone slips to veneer the concrete block retaining walls. As well as irregular paving to the patio areas and walkways / ramps.
Aesthetically it was important that the garden did not appear dominated by masonry, in order to maintain visual variety and interest. Because of this we specified the lawn retainer, and the planting retainers for the accessibility ramps in Cor-ten steel. This oxidises to an amazing rich reddy brown colour which compliments the iron oxides in the Blue Pennant Sandstone veneers and paving.
We included a pond-less water feature of the same type of Blue Pennant Sandstone in rockery stone. This type of water feature requires less maintenance and is safer because there is no pool of standing water. Which may otherwise pose a risk to young children.
You can learn more about Blue Pennant Sandstone HERE