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FEATURE

PARK LANE WEST

Park Lane West is a new commercial development in
Pretoria’s Menlyn Maine precinct. The building complies
with the 5 Star Green Star Rating of the Green Building
Council of South Africa (GBCSA).

ertha Wium Landscape Development was also used to emulate large landscape
was tasked to design an upmarket, areas in the small garden spaces available
Bsleek and modern landscape, around the building, anchoring it with the
complementing the architecture of the use of avenues of trees as the landscape
building but keeping within the bounds matures.
of the larger Menlyn Maine precinct plant
design language. Park Lane’s landscape Due to the surroundings of the Menlyn
was to provide an instant effect and was Maine precinct, all plant species and hard
also to be used to integrate the building landscape elements had to conform with
into its surroundings by greening the little its design specifications in order to give a
space left between the imposing building sense of place within the broader precinct
and the streets surrounding it. area.

Landscape design philosophy and Rooftop planters had to deal with more Layered planting around the footprint of
influencing site conditions extreme weather conditions due to the building accentuates its architecture
prevailing winds on the seventh floor and provides a sleek effect
To accentuate the architecture of the outdoor living area. Here, tree and plant
building, a mass planting effect was used species that can withstand extreme wind
in various layers around the footprint of and heat conditions, were chosen. effect, with shallower planters connecting
the building, in different planter heights as the deeper ones by means of low growing
well as on street level. This provided a sleek, Due to weight restrictions on the roof shrubs and groundcovers around the
modern and instant planting effect as per garden, a limited number of deep planters periphery of the rooftop living space.
the project brief. Flowering effects were could be constructed for tree planting;
limited to blue and white to strengthen planters were cleverly spaced and In terms of environmental considerations,
the mass effect of the landscape, and this positioned to give a continuous green tree the landscape planting area was, as far as

The shape of this interior planter on the ground floor was
designed to mimic the atrium’s architectural lines