Roof Terrace

My clients approached me as they wanted to create a secluded place in their existing home for relaxing, sunbathing, swimming and occasionally a place to party. It was important for my clients that this space remained private, without overlooking neighbours, and without the ability for neighbours to view this space. While they wanted an area that had full access to the sun, it also needed some shade and protection from the cold winds.

The concept of using your roof for a terrace is nothing new and there is a long history of roof terraces that possibly started in the Middle East. Perhaps the use of roof terraces began with the ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia, the most famous of which were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In many traditional houses through the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean, the roof terrace was common. It was a safe place above the street where on an evening of a hot day, cool breezes are available. Versatile in their use, they also served as a place to sun dry fruits, to dry clothes and in summer to sleep.

Modernists such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier broke free from the bonds of historical architecture, introducing a completely new form of design that had no reference to the past. Le Corbusier’s Cinq Points de l’Architecture Moderne became the new model for architectural design and theory.  The 5th Point, the roof garden or terrace, was a flat roof intended to be an outdoor living room, a place to exercise and to enjoy the fresh air, rather than a literal garden with plants and trees.  Le Corbusier considered the roof to be an “exterior room, a place to be within and to look without.”  Modern architecture’s flat roof provides the perfect platform on which to build a vegetated roof. In the 1930s, Le Corbusier was brought on as a consultant on two projects in Brazil – the Ministry of Education building in Rio de Janeiro (1938) and the Brazilian Press Association building (1940) – where landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx designed the roof gardens. Alvar & Aino Aalto also sought to design to embrace the elements and surrounding landscapes as was the case when they purchased the site in 1934 for the design for their own house and studio. The Aalto’s design incorporated a first-floor roof terrace orientated towards the sun (south) with outlook across the open grounds of an adjacent cadet training school to the ocean when first built in Helsinki, Finland. Montreal’s Habitat 67 apartment building designed by architect Moshe Safdie for the World Exposition in 1967 provided roof top terraces to many of the prefabricated modular apartments.

In Perth our Mediterranean climate makes roof terraces just as attractive for use as those located within the Mediterranean itself. The now late Perth architect Ralph Drexel travelled overland from India through Afghanistan to London with fellow Perth architects Barry Cameron and Binky Collins in the early 1960’s, before going on to obtain employment in Aden, Yemen. On that journey they experienced the lifestyle and use of roof terraces, something that seemed to have influenced Ralph Drexel in his architecture later in life on his return to Perth. In the 1968/69 design of his own house in Kingsway, Nedlands Drexel incorporated a roof terrace topping the house to enable the family to enjoy the cool of the summer evenings and to take in the view of the river.

Neil has embraced opportunities to include roof terraces to enhance clients’ experiences within their homes, as was the case in the Roscommon House project where the private roof terrace substantially increased the accessible outdoor area of the house.

The existing barren concrete roof and raised concrete pool sat awkwardly, without any sense of enclosure, exposed to the elements in what was a sterile and undesirable location to hang out. Neil designed to create some sense of enclosure to the outdoor space through the introduction of raised planter beds to screen and soften the feel of the roof terrace once the vegetation is established. The trafficable areas of the roof terrace were designed to be pushed back inward from the perimeter to ensure that privacy was achieved. A new timber deck softened both visually and underfoot, allowing bare feet on what would otherwise have been a hot surface on which to walk. 

The area was designed into zones for protected seating under shade, a raised deck for sunbathing and surrounding steps that can also be used for casual seating. The floor void between the concrete roof and the decking is used for pool equipment storage. An outside shower was also provided. Raised landscaping planter beds help to soften the space visually and enhance privacy.

With the ever-increasing cost of property, it is important to maximise the usable area of that property for maximum return on your investment. Roofs are often a functionary space that simply shield from the wind and rain without any further thought given to the lost opportunity that the roof could bring. Utilising the roof area with access to additional outdoor space can radically increase your outdoor space which is often lacking as density increases. With appropriately deep landscaping beds it is possible to grow trees and achieve a substantial garden within the roof terrace.

PHOTOGRAPHERS:

Ian Regnard. Neil Cownie.

Models: Irene Nanni & Irene Eraggi.

Day bed: Eco Outdoor.

Rug: Temple Fine Rugs