Belem, Portugal

A large garden roof terrace on the river front of Belem. There is great sun from its west facing aspect, and a dreamy view of the Belem tower and river Tagus. The developers left a 18 meter long planting bed in a raised bed with 300mm depth for substrates. This focused the ideas planting to go local. Portuguese planting scheme with the addition of drought resistant cultivars to lift the project. A garden to be viewed for 12 months of the year.

The planting scheme in its minimal soil needed to survive extreme temperatures and harsh winds. The garden it self viewed from the majority of the house was to become an additional seating and dining area. This also made it important to use low sub shrub planting to keep the view on to the river, much like much of the maquis biome planting in Portugal.

An outdoor kitchen is to be built in the garden for prime BBQs on the north facing wall of the roof terrace.

A little slice of the Portuguese wilds in the a stones through from Belem tower.