Warehouse Wild
Keeping the best of the big things and complementing the space with an eclectic mix of mismatched pots, Florian Wild has pulled the courtyard garden together, creating a series of outdoor living spaces.
The existing pond has been refurbished and fitted with new edging and trickling fountain, always a lovely sound.
A guest bathroom and storage were added with access to one of Carlton’s famous cobbled lanes.
A tricky levered window creates an outdoor ‘bar’ along the kitchen with access to the barbie.
Paving was replaced with Castlemaine slate and the soft tones of the garden are given a shake up with the knockout Sydney Ball artwork on the back wall.
Soaked in Melbourne’s storied share house and artistic history, this warehouse and its garden is as social and vibrant as its famous inhabitant.
When Florian Wild was approached in 2020 by Flack Studio to create a garden for their renovation of Troye Sivan’s place, Flack were taking big cues from their super celebrity client for the design of the house.
The renovation is well known now, a superb expression of Flack Studio’s signature mix of contemporary and historic design. And the garden complements it perfectly, incorporating all the best features into a new and fresh space for Troye and his family and friends.
The building was originally a handball court (it famously held the first intercolonial handball competition in 1873), then a brick factory in the 1960s before architect John Mockridge transformed it into a residence and studio for himself in 1970. It was one of the first warehouse conversions in Melbourne. The history of the building has been retained through all of its iterations; the high walls and markings for the handball court are still features and a defining highlight in the garden.
Once the design for the house was completed, Florian Wild’s Rupert Baynes-Williams and his team started work on the garden. The site was full of builder’s rubble and was filthy. “The whole place was a dustbowl,” he remembers. “It was the two weeks before Christmas, so the weather was really lovely. We spent those first few days, basically hosing everything down. It was actually kind of fun. Hosing all the walls down, hosing the floor – just hosing everything really – revealing the bones and what we needed to do. Then gin and tonics in the garden at knock off!”
They knew they would replace and replenish the soil before they even thought of planting anything. It’s always their first step. But beyond that, the unknown was embraced. “It’s the one project we never actually did a plan for … it was a lovely loose arrangement,” says Rupert. The brief from Troye was that he wanted the garden to look like he had moved into a share house and just collected a whole lot of random pots over time.
“We sent a bit of a return brief to him for him to have a look at,” Rupert says. “It included lots of images, but also some artwork. Henri Rousseau’s naive style was a bit of an inspiration. He responded really well to that, so he just entrusted us without really doing a plan. Because we installed it with the client’s trust, we could refine our design as we went along. We felt like it was much more natural, almost like any home gardener. A real garden doesn’t need to be designed, it just kind of happens and evolves over a period of time.” says Rupert. “We wanted it to look great, but also like it had been there before Troy moved in. Established, but with a bit of a ramshackle feel to it.
Florian Wild kept a big old banksia, retrofitted a pond with a waterfall, added to the palings along the back fence and replaced the paving with Castlemaine slate. A crusty old mirror was swept of years of cobwebs and retained for its weathered patina. They had the benefit of the lovely high – and freshly hosed – walls and established outlines of garden beds, along with an existing bar with access to the kitchen. Troye also had a washroom and toilet installed for guests in the garden – this little space also keeps the bins hidden and leads to the back lane. A big feature of the landscaping is the collection of mismatched pots and planters that create a naturally evolved feeling. A lot like the interior design of the house, they are a mix of weathered terracotta and contemporary design.
Along with the initial design and installation of the garden, the team at Florian Wild are also responsible for the maintenance, so they can perfect its natural flow and evolution. They keep an eye on what’s working and not, shift things around, adding and subtracting to maintain a stylish, comfy, user-friendly space for friends and family.
“It feels a bit like a young person’s party house,” says Rupert. “There’s always a couple of empties that missed the cleanup – but it’s wholesome and fun – we really enjoy seeing how it’s being used by these young people having a great time. It’s really nice. It’s all about his family and his friends. The whole space has been designed to cook and eat and have people in it,” says Rupert.
florianwild.com / flack.studio
