When Architecture Thinks Like Landscape Design
At HollandGreen, architecture and landscape design aren’t separate stages in a linear process – they’re parallel streams of creativity that inform one another from the very beginning. When both disciplines evolve together, the boundaries between building and landscape dissolve, and what emerges is a place with a stronger sense of belonging and purpose.
A More Connected Way Of Designing
As James, our Associate Director of Architecture (Design), often reflects, architects traditionally focus on form – light, structure, access, orientation – with the landscape considered later. But when these conversations begin side by side, the architecture naturally responds to the landscape, and the landscape shapes the architecture in return. Instead of designing a building and then the garden, we design the experience of the place as a whole.
Because both studios sit under one roof, ideas are exchanged early and fluidly. Challenges are debated at sketch stage, design moves forward faster, and opportunities that might otherwise be missed become central to the vision. The landscape doesn’t ‘fill in the gaps’ – it’s part of the narrative from day one.
Rycote Car Gallery: A Pavilion In Dialogue With Its Garden
One of the clearest examples of this collaborative approach is the Rycote Car Gallery. What began as a simple brief – a walled garden and a garage – quickly evolved into a sculptural piece of architecture shaped by its landscape setting.
The building opens from front to back with glazing that frames a full view through to the walled garden beyond. Sliding panels and louvred screens modulate light while maintaining a strong visual connection to the outdoors. The result feels almost performative: a space where engineering and environment meet in a single gesture.
The garden extends this rhythm, rising in levels with hard landscaping and planting that echo the architecture’s geometry. Inside and outside read as one continuous composition – an outcome only possible because both teams shaped the vision together from the outset.
Hazelhurst House: Allowing The Landscape To Take The Lead
If the Car Gallery showcases how architecture can elevate the landscape, Hazelhurst House demonstrates the reverse: a project where the landscape sets the tone, and the building supports it.
Located on a sensitive rural site, the design called for subtlety. Earlier proposals from elsewhere had placed the pool building front and centre, but our integrated team saw that the landscape needed room to breathe. The solution was an underground pool house that slips beneath the rewilded garden, allowing the topography and planting to guide the experience.
From most viewpoints, the building disappears completely. The landscape reclaims its prominence, restored with native planting and soft organic forms. Here, architecture becomes the backdrop, enabling the land to tell the story. It’s a project that could only be achieved by treating both disciplines as one continuous thought.
One Team, One Vision
Bringing architecture, interiors and landscape design together gives our clients a unified journey. There are no handovers between practices, no fragmentation – just one collaborative team developing ideas, refining budgets, and shaping solutions collectively.
Clients see the benefit immediately. When we guide them through a 3D model and they experience their new home as a complete environment – inside, outside, and everything in between – the emotional impact is profound. It’s not a collection of disciplines; it’s a single vision brought to life.
What’s Next?
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Whether you’re looking for a heritage renovation or an imaginative new-build home, our Architecture team is on hand to create thoughtfully-considered and beautifully-crafted homes that will leave a lasting legacy.
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