The sculptural Towers Road Residence in Toorak by Wood Marsh Architects was completed in late 2015. TCL had a collaborative relationship with the architects and client to design a garden with a ‘sense of embrace’ — a poetic garden of ‘structured chaos’.

The verdant, diverse and textured forms of the garden provide a contrast to the muscular architectural concrete form of the building. The white painterly bark and delicate foliage of Silver Birches at the property’s Towers Road frontage act as a foil against the monumental raw concrete façade and provide filtered views through to the building.

The interior of the house frames views of the central lawn, cabana, pool and extensive garden, beneath the canopy of an established plane tree. This rear garden is a rich and layered composition of seasonal evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs, perennials and ground covers navigated through arbors, stepping stones and hidden paths.

The south side of the house boasts a lush circular fernery nestled between the building walls. An array of layered plantings and a scattering of granite plinths create an exotic atmosphere.