Designed for Opia Residences, this landscape project transforms a modern villa garden into a curated outdoor stage with a swimming pool, fire pit and sculptural topiaries. Kaya + Partners brought together travertine walkways, black gravel borders and layered landscape lighting in a single composition, turning the atmosphere of golden hour into a garden experience that lasts all through the night.
A Garden Composed as a Single Flow
The landscape composition rests on a continuous promenade that carries visitors from the entrance to the terrace, and from the pool to the fireside. Underlit travertine slabs and strips of black river gravel guide movement without breaking up the lawn planes; the landscape design extends the architecture's crisp horizontal eave lines into the garden as a natural continuation.
Entrance Axis — A Welcome of Travertine and Light
The approach to the garden begins with an underlit travertine slab path flanked by bollard fixtures on both sides. Cloud-pruned (niwaki) bonsai in travertine planters, burgundy topiary spheres and low sunbeams piercing the cypresses announce the project's meticulous horticultural language right at the gate.
Front Garden — A Sculptural Open-Air Gallery
In front of the villa's cream stone façade, the lawn works like an exhibition space: a chrome figurative sculpture, white organic loungers and anthracite seating groups are punctuated by glowing light spheres. A linear LED strip beneath the eaves turns the façade into an uninterrupted line of light in the evening hours.
Swimming Pool — Chrome Waterfall and In-Water Loungers
The backbone of the garden is a rectangular swimming pool with a mirror-still surface. Four white wave-shaped loungers set into the water turn the pool into a relaxation terrace, while a curved stainless steel waterfall adds a layer of both sound and movement. The marble terrace around the pool and the gravel borders dotted with boxwood spheres align the pool landscaping with the building's linear language.
Fire Pit — The Warm Heart of the Garden
At the far end of the pool, the fire pit lounge set on a curved marble platform is the project's social focal point. A ring of white organic seating around the flaming bowl sets the scene for entertaining guests from sunset until midnight.
- Rectangular swimming pool with a chrome waterfall and in-water loungers
- Fire pit and organic seating ring on a marble platform
- Underlit travertine axes and black gravel borders
- Cypress screens, multi-stem olive trees in planters and niwaki bonsai
The Art of Topiary × Pop-Art Accents
The boldest decision shaping the project's character is the interweaving of planting and art: giant rearing topiary elephant and dinosaur figures, a turquoise balloon dog sculpture and red Spun chairs turn the garden into an open-air collection. Thanks to disciplined planting, these playful touches work without tipping into ostentation.
Landscape Lighting — Carrying Golden Hour into the Night
Layered garden lighting — linear LEDs beneath the eaves, path bollards, glowing sphere lamps and tree uplights — sustains the amber tone of sunset throughout the night. By staging water, flame and foliage texture individually, the light reveals a different face of the garden at every hour.
Turning the Garden into the Home's Largest Room
With scenarios ranging from poolside leisure to fireside conversation, from morning coffee to evening gatherings, the Opia Residences landscape makes the outdoors the most lived-in room of the home. In this project, Kaya + Partners conceives landscape not as décor, but as a timeless stage for everyday life.