by HELEN YOUNG, The Australian, August, 18, 2012
The Small House in Sydeny’s Surry Hills
Photo: Trevor Mein
Source: Supplied via The Australian
Imagine flying over a city where the rooftops below are living green, where plants and even vegetable gardens transform the lost spaces on top of buildings. It’s already happening around the world, and Australia is embracing the trend.
In Sydney’s Pyrmont, we’re standing on the rooftop of a heritage-listed building, surrounded by a vast garden sitting in the sky. M Central is an apartment block whose 2005 resurrection as a hip inner-city residence came a century after its construction as a wool store. Landscape architect Daniel Baffsky of 360 Degrees, who designed the 3000sq m communal garden, says the brief was to surprise rather than “have the ubiquitous pool and huge deck”.
Swaths of native foxtail grass lend an almost rural ambience at one end, their furry plumes swaying with the breeze. Bold succulents give textural contrast, while the centrepiece of a small lawn is a magnificent dragon’s blood tree. On the upper level, vine-covered arbours and wide timber boardwalks, shaded by tall tuckeroo trees, flank a covered events area. The sound of water tinkles gently.
The garden is beautiful, but also a social hub for M Central’s 400 residents, offering opportunities for interaction, from barbecues to dog walking.
“There’s no question about the environmental benefits of green roofs but the social benefits are not yet fully explored. Up on the roof everyone is equal,” Baffsky says.
