At a glance
- The work
- Garden, sauna setting, bathing areas, paving, screens and planting
- The palette
- Ipe, charred-finish timber, granite boulders, steel and concrete slabs
The path to the sauna is part of the experience. It passes between dense planting, dark screens and changes in level before arriving at a glass-fronted room tucked into the garden. Looking back from inside, the same route becomes a framed view of leaves, stone and steps.
Ross NW Watergardens began this Eastmoreland project as a modern, Japanese-inspired gathering space. The scope grew to include a sauna, a wood-fired hot tub and a cold plunge. Instead of letting those additions fill the yard with separate objects, the landscape gives them a shared setting.
A route with changes of pace
Large paving slabs establish the open terrace near the house. Elsewhere, separated stones and timber steps narrow the route and bring the planting closer. Granite boulders and beach pebbles add texture at the edges, so the transitions are felt underfoot as well as seen.
The ipe deck steps were reworked to double as overflow seating. That is a useful distinction in a city garden: the connection between levels has a social role when the terrace fills up, rather than being circulation space alone.
Privacy without a blank perimeter
Dark, charred-finish wood fencing and custom metal screens provide enclosure. Their recessive color lets the greenery carry the view. Mature trees were brought in as part of the planting, giving the new layout a canopy and a sense of scale from the beginning.
The sauna was designed and built by Cascade Fence & Deck; Boy Boy made the metal screens, gate and ipe deck railing. Those contributions are visible in the contrast between the compact timber building and the finer lines of the metalwork.
The photographs reveal how little of the garden is experienced all at once. The sauna is visible from the path, the path from the sauna, and the larger terrace only after another turn. A collection of substantial amenities feels less crowded because planting and level changes give each one a distinct place.
At home
Give the route between outdoor amenities as much attention as the destinations themselves.
