Bryanston, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa | 2017
GREENinc designed a new landscape for a refurbished office building with heritage value, situated in Bryanston Johannesburg. The existing landscape had some heritage value in the form of large Jacaranda trees, a cast-iron bird-bath and an oval shaped formal pond with an adjacent pergola.
The landscape design honors the existing strong visual axis, between the large bay window at the centre of the main building and the existing oval pond at the far end of the garden. It emphasizes this visual axis, with a new linear water feature that links the building with the oval pond. This line was strengthened further with formal lawn areas and planting beds on either side of the water feature.
The water feature comprises of a small square pond and a large rectilinear pond, linked with a narrow water channel transecting through a pathway. The square pond hosts ‘The Gatekeeper’, a sculpture of a man made from rock and steel by artist Angus Taylor. The jets of water on either side of the rectilinear pond, forms an almost delicate foil against the imposing and somewhat heavy presence of the sculpture.
Indigenous planting was selected to soften the formality of the design, but also to provide year-round colour and interest. The landscape design was adapted during installation to further accommodate existing trees and plants of value.