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PROJECT

EMANTINI MEDICINAL GARDEN

Emantini is a 42ha privately owned property south of Manzini, Eswatini (Swaziland).
Nestled against the Ngwempisi River, the land has witnessed a decade-long
transformation from a ramshackle chicken farm to a functioning garden estate.

Project Team
Client: Emantini Botanical Garden
Landscape Architect: The Ochre Office
Landscape Contractor: Emantini
Steel Engineer and Contractor:
Ajay Da-Cunha
Water Feature Engineer and
Fabricator: Water’Scapes

Portal eye with views over the valley The portal box piercing through an existing hedge

xisting buildings have been Brief well-established and providing excellent
either renovated, repurposed or In 2018, the client decided to establish a protection from the elements, as well as
Edemolished and new residences, detailed, formal garden, and the property forming an instant enclosure.
nurseries, recreational and operational required an anchoring – a space in which to Spatially, the medicinal garden required
facilities have been constructed. New begin a planting collection of interest and a greater area and the site was extended
roads and paths have been laid, as and variety. It was to provide an opportunity to into the open area above the initial terrace
when movement routes are re-imagined. educate and train staff, at the same time – a garden size of 2300m². This provided the
Functional decisions, together with the introducing a broad spectrum of plants. A opportunity to introduce level changes and
greening and beautifying of the property, medicinal garden, as a garden typology, was open up a view over the valley, forming the
have resulted in the current state of the decided on. basis from which the design developed.
site. Imagined to eventually culminate The location was selected at a high point The design of the medicinal garden
as a tapestry of carefully curated garden on the property, existing as a rectangular aimed to find a fusion point, celebrating the
rooms and buildings, Emantini is set to levelled terrace carved from the hillside and, importance of medicinal plants and paying
become a destination of great botanical at that time, acting as a laydown for various homage to cultural and traditional legacies.
and architectural interest. building materials as well as a transition zone The plants required a theatre in which to be
Eswatini is known for its warm, sub- for the estate’s truck. It was essential that the displayed.
tropical climate and offers ideal conditions new spatial design still allow for the truck
to support Emantini’s gardens; its vision is thoroughfare in order to access the truck Concept
to showcase the rich botanical heritage of shed. In previous years, the area had been As a starting point, the concept imagined a
Southern Africa. screened with a Viburnum border, already cross-axis that would cut the space centrally

4 Landscape SA • Issue 139 2024 Check us out www.salandscape.co.za