Bellevue Hill Rooftop Garden

The brief

This Bellevue Hill rooftop garden has views running across the suburb. The clients wanted a new outdoor space designed to maximise the views – encouraging them to spend more time outdoors.

The design makes that outlook part of the rooftop garden. With new places to sit and dine, but the glass balustrade had to remain visually open. 

We organised the space into two main areas surrounded by coastal greenery capable of withstanding the exposed elements.

Generous built in curved seating surrounds a fire bowl and combines with 2 designer armchairs for an inviting seating area. The seating feels enclosed by its curve and planting. The dining setting captures a 180 degree view and opens fully to the horizon.

Furniture

The lounge is anchored by micro concrete crescent-shaped built-in sofa, softened with cushions in chalk, sand and muted olive. Its sweep follows the terrace edge, while a low planter at one end lets silver foliage come right up to the upholstery. 

A broad, bronze-toned fire bowl sits within the arc. Opposite, two woven rope armchairs and a small cylindrical side table complete the conversation area without interrupting the view. 

The round dining table picks up the sofa’s curved geometry. Six upholstered, woven chairs bring warmth to the far end of the roof without blocking the view.

Coastal Plants

Repeat coastal planting is concentrated on one side in charcoal troughs. 

The sofa is surrounded by multi height clusters of round charcoal pots. with orange-flowering aloes providing the strongest vertical accents. 

Bronze Phormium rises through lower mounds of grey-green foliage and chalky Echeveria rosettes, while trailing succulent stems spill over the trough fronts. 

Elevated above the lounge are dark cylindrical pots balancing the low sofa – giving the garden height without making a screen.

Closer to the fire pit, the planting becomes more intricate with pointed succulents, rounded rosettes and pendant stems in shades of silver, olive and bronze. 

The glass balustrade highlights the long view, but the plants make the immediate foreground a highlight with an established architectural Xanthorrhoea.