The new Spire Apartments at Martketown in Newcastle incorporates a new elevated roof garden. A centrepiece of this apartment development, the external roof garden is a visually attractive space that provides a decorative visual form as well as an outdoor landscaped garden, meeting place and activity area.

The design by Terras is highly creative and differs from the usual regular planter and paver forms.
The garden includes a central shade structure supported on rock filled light towers. The shade structures are laser cut aluminium panels using leaf forms that provide an artistic element and throw decorative shadow patterns across the terrace. At night the rock gabion towers illuminate from inside and the shade structures are uplit with linear lighting lines spreading across the pavement areas for dramatic effect.

Combined with mature tree planting using advanced Magnolia and Crepe Myrtle trees the roof garden will grow over time. The organic central forms provide a green contrast to represent the ‘turf’ of the home garden and palms trees rise out of the mounds along with a water feature, seating and decorative pavement.

The garden needs time to establish as the site is exposed to extreme wind and heat, as with any garden time and attention will allow it to grow and adapt.