Four cohesive housing concepts have been built within the ancient granite walls at the top of Porto’s Rua Dom Pedro Quinto. The original mansion nestled at the center of this terraced quarter was renovated into a six-bedroom guesthouse, now called Casa Dom Pedro, and includes a new pool and breakfast room. The three modern concrete structures, Casa Jardim, Casa Terraço and Casa Boavista offer a variety of 2-3 bedroom apartments, each with private entrances and access to and from the gardens.
‘In this palace he erected very high walls, supported by stone pillars; and by planting what was called a pensile paradise, and replenishing it with all sorts of trees, he rendered the prospect an exact resemblance of a mountainous country.’ – Josephus’ (c. 37–100 AD) description of the mythical gardens of Babylon fits the design of this garden perfectly, while on a much smaller scale of course.
It was with the objective of creating such a mythical garden, inspired by the gardens of Babylon themselves, that this project was developed.
Flowerbeds and common spaces are planted mainly on the roofs, creating a continuous green structure. The non-accessible roofs are covered with low maintenance and drought resistant plants such as sedum. A long linear planter with red geraniums and hanging Hedera helix ‘Variegata’ make up the limit of the complex that faces Rua Dom Pedro V. Series of long pots and flowerbeds are lined with a variety of shrubs and herbaceous plants, carefully selected and divided according to sun exposure: a shaded bed composed of Campanula poscharskyana, Dryopteris walcichiana, Asltilbe sinensis ‘Red Robin’, Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Altone’; a sun bathed bed by the pool composed of Solanum jasminoides, Choysia ternata ‘Sundance’, Rosa Molineaux, Alchemilla mollis, Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’, inaccessible green roofs composed of Verbena bonariensis, Echinaceae purpurea ‘Maguns’, Eryngium planum ‘Blue Hobbit’ and a mixture of different types of Sedum spp., and flowerbeds by the entrances to the buildings, composed of Miscanthus sinensis, Verbena bonariensis, Salvia nemorosa ‘Snow Hill’, Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, Salvia nemorosa ‘Amethyst and Artemisisa ‘Powis castle’.
Small trees with high seasonal interest, such as Acer palmatum ‘Sango-Kaku’, Acer shirasavanum ‘Aureum’, Acer shirasawanum ‘Autumn Moon’, Ginkgo biloba, Lagestroemia indica, Liquidambar styraciflua, Magnolia soulangeana and Nyssa sylvatica, are planted at key locations across the gardens.
Several gravel paths that branch from the guesthouse, a central element of the entire proposal, connect the entire housing complex. The design focuses on achieving a single language, common to all spaces, both in terms of materiality and in terms of plant structure.
The entire space is also intended to be lit in a discreet and safe way, so to avoid any light pollution within the complex and in its surrounding areas.
Illuminating the paths, are spikes with double spotlights, one of which illuminates the path and the other the shrubs and flowerbeds along the sides of it. These spotlights provide just enough light to illuminate one’s line of sight but are discreet enough not to illuminate anything beyond that.
The treetops too are illuminated and create an ambient light throughout the space, allowing light to escape through the canopies and illuminate the whole garden.
Architecture offices involved in the design: Qualive and Adriano Pimenta
Location: Rua D. Pedro V Porto
Design year: 2020
