The panoramic garden
This garden is situated on the 20° floor with an incredible view over the city of Antwerp and its surroundings. Therefore, all the planting was kept low because we didn’t want to block the view. The garden used to be all tiles, and is situated in the center of the apartment. Having a large component of wintergreen plants was essential. Our clients also had a specific question not to have flowers. So the atmosphere is more or less mossy with ferns, humid and shaded.
To get a nice contrast we painted the walls and surroundings a very dark gray, almost black.
The weight we could put on the roof in the area next to the railing, was very limited. So there we put just a small amount of substrate and planted it with sedum, succulent plants that hardly need any soil. It is the same kind of plants that are used in extensive green roofs.
The lounge/sofa area is in the same place as it was before we started. It is the exact spot with the most sunshine whole year round. Underneath the carpet the concrete tiles are still there. The table and chairs are positioned on black gravel stabilisation grids filled with mineral substrate.
Photography by Anoek Luyten