Stephen and Alice of Boaz Studio talk about garden room design to the Cornwall based landscape designer, Zaidée Penhaligon.
Zaidée is an RHS award-winning landscape designer who provides practical and beautiful services for domestic gardens and commercial projects such as hotels and housing developments. Her designs combine exquisite craftsmanship with self-sustaining plant communities inspired by wild spaces.
Boaz Studio and zpdesign met at an event hosted by Unlocking Potential and joined forces in 2020 to enter a large-scale hospitality design competition based in the South of France.
From a landscape designer’s perspective
Zaidee from zpdesign:
A garden room can be used as a focal point, giving the visitor a reason to meander slowly through the garden. In the 18th century, garden makers installed follies in their grounds, these were dreamy and fanciful buildings to catch the eye, draw visitors to these secluded resting spots and highlight desired views. You may not be wishing to build a crumbling ruin or Japanese pavilion, but do think about placing your building to peek out from behind trees perhaps, or at the end of a long avenue, to create this sense of curiosity in the garden.
From an interior designer’s perspective
Alice from Boaz Studio:
Garden sheds don’t have to be a jumbled mess, they can be a living part of the garden, not an imposition on it. They can be used as an extension of the home and are becoming increasingly popular now that flexible working is becoming a more acknowledged and accepted practice.
A 3D render of a garden room designed by Boaz Studio. The views are captured by large dark window frames. Any light that comes in washes out the black trim, providing a borderless frame for your outdoor view.
From a landscape designer’s perspective
Zaidee from zpdesign:
Even if this building is a home office or gym, there’s no need to make the access back to the house as direct as possible, building in time to enjoy the ‘commute’ is one of the pleasures of home working and will have a direct impact on stress and wellbeing levels. Consider the journey from door to door, would you like to walk past running water, would you prefer to wind through trees or would a covered walkway increase your motivation to leave the house when it’s raining?
From an interior designer’s perspective
Stephen from Boaz Studio:
Having a bespoke room will mean that you can take advantage of the best views by positioning the windows so they highlight the surroundings. Consider what the new garden room will be used for. Will it be a smart and organised home office, a comfortable reading nook, a gym, or perhaps an art studio? The positioning of the windows will be crucial to maximising natural light; for example, north facing windows are suited to an artist studio because of the consistent natural light. Do you want to flood the room with direct warm sunlight during the day, or will that cause a glare on your computer screen?
Black timber and white painted windows seen around the Cornish coast, this one is the Lizard Wireless Station
From a landscape designer’s perspective
Zaidee from zpdesign:
Once you have located your room, think about how you can settle it into the landscape. Natural cladding materials like unpainted timber and stone will blend in with the natural environment more easily, and dark colours like zinc or stained timber can recess successfully depending on the backdrop. Planting shrubs and trees around the building will make it less obtrusive (allow an appropriate distance from foundations), and you can choose scented climbers for trailing around the door.
From an interior designer’s perspective
Stephen from Boaz Studio:
Are there nearby structures that you could use as architectural or material inspiration? For instance, local farm buildings, a traditional building shape, or building materials. Create an inspiration board with pictures of things that can serve as inspiration for the building’s façade. This could include other local buildings, local materials (perhaps repurposed materials) and planting that might surround it. What do you want the space to feel like? Should it feel like a different atmosphere to the main house? Is it a space to escape to? Build an inspiration board to highlight the desired interior Look and feel.
Natural timber horizontal clad home office, softened by dry stone wall and meadow planting.
From a landscape designer’s perspective
Zaidee from zpdesign:
More prosaically you may also need to allow for planning permission, insulation, heating, power and perhaps even plumbing if you’re looking to build a kitchen or bathroom within your new space. Planning rules vary so it’s worth consulting your local planning officer, but a general rule is that you won’t need permission for a building with an eaves height of 2.5m and roof height of 4m. Your initial outlay will be more for a properly heated and insulated building, but you’ll certainly get more use out of it if it is cosy in all weathers. There are many companies out there that design and install garden rooms, try to get personal recommendations if possible, and ask to visit completed builds.
From an interior designer’s perspective
Alice from Boaz Studio:
A big part of creating a good space that will stand the test of time is making sure that maintenance is taken into consideration with every decision made. For example when selecting the building finishes, seek for materials that are resistant to damp and UV damage. Ventilation is also vital because it allows stale air to be replaced and moisture to escape. Moisture accumulation can cause mould growth, which is damaging to both the contents in the room and your health.
A real buzz: this lakeside apiary shows how creative you can be with garden rooms.
Garden rooms are a great investment right now, and could be an easier way of giving yourself more space than building an extension. It’s worth spending time planning and doing your research; see if you can visit other people’s garden rooms, get some personal recommendations or consult the experts. As designers we are always happy to talk through available options, draw up plans, and can recommend suppliers.
For an informal phone call or a garden walk & talk, please contact:
Zaidée at zpdesign 07947 072616
Stephen at Boaz Studio on 07967 042913
A rustic art studio half hidden in the trees, with beautiful details like the ship’s light.
During the spring/summer of 2020 – need I say a trying time for all of us – Boaz Studio teamed up with landscape designer, Zaidée Penhaligon, to design an entry for a design competition based in Provence, South of France. The Jardin de Villars Contest challenged its entrants to create a sustainable hospitality concept on a site currently functioning as 9 holes golf course. No announcement of winners has ever been made.
Our proposed site plan.
“Our wish is to turn it into a verdant, fragrant garden where rosemary and thyme give golfers and non-golfers alike an opportunity to nourish their body and mind.” – Jardin De Villars
The goal was to create an eco-sustainable place that offers visitors to the site an opportunity to make connections with their deeper selves and nature alike. This brief felt too compelling to miss, especially since we’re a big fan of sustainable and biophilic design! Entering design competitions is a fun way to keep creative minds engaged, promote design innovation and sheer possibility. They can also facilitate new connections too!
The competition was due to be judged by 7 masters of their field, a mix of designers to hospitality experts. Luxury hospitality entrepreneur, Basit Ignet, founder of Athal Hospitality; Stephen Fraenkel, CEO, Athal Hospitality; Samuel Paillat, founder and partner, Samuel Paillat & Associates; Tarek Qaddumi, Architect, Regional Director at Morphosis L.A.; France’s revered landscape gardener, Louis Benech; Christopher Rudolph, luxury hospitality expert; and Real Estate and Hospitality developer, Bertrand Otto.
In recognition of the importance of outdoor spaces in this brief, we decided it was only right to get a landscape designer involved to really do this project justice! Stephen and Alice met Zaidée at a couple networking events previously and reached out to her to ask if she’d be interested in working with us. During lockdown we communicated through emails and online video calls, but this did not stop us creating a proposal we are all proud of.
We wanted to create a sanctuary with elements which invite people to engage with their environment through meandering sensory pathways, hilltop views, and a multitude of recreational and relaxing spaces. Holistic sustainability and maximising the inspiration of the local area were always at the heart of our project. The Violet de Provence artichoke was fundamental to the inspiration of this proposal, its purple colour and scaly textures and shape gave us plenty of design ideas to implement throughout the scheme.
The proposed site is populated by cabins scattered around the site, each offering unobstructed views with a large, glazed frontage, and architectural features such as a stepped planted roof and artichoke inspired relief wall. The largest building, “Le Sanctuaire”, is designed using three artichoke inspired geometric spaces and houses a restaurant, spa, meditation and conference rooms, and sun terrace.
Materials consisted of innovative, natural, and local examples, such as white limestone, red clay, and artichoke based eco plastics. We used local practices such as chaux lime paint and rammed earth walls which led to the buildings depth and character. The colour palette stems from the surrounding area, with muted lavenders, greens, and earthy tones giving the spaces a relaxing and tranquil atmosphere.
The visitor is led on a journey to reach their cabins via meandering pathways through textural meadow planting, finding places to pause in pockets of mown turf the shape of golf tees, and low natural stone walls which double as seating. Adjacent to the main building is a formal kitchen garden and pétanque court where guests to the restaurant can watch the chefs pick their ingredients. Vegetated swales run along the contours of the land, collecting and slowly releasing surface water so that it does not inundate the landscape. A raised timber walkway bridges the swales and provides a dry path for guests.
To view our full project, please click here.
