Precinct Residential took a dated commercial building at 81 Carlton Gore Road, Newmarket, and reimagined it as a luxury park side residence, set directly against the green backdrop of Auckland Domain. Warren and Mahoney’s reuse of the existing structure gave the project its bones; what it needed next was a landscape mature and layered enough to match the ambition of the architecture. Built within an existing footprint, loading capacity and floor plate, inherited rather than chosen, this was a complex reimagination.
The development’s two residence types, Park and Garden are joined by a central podium landscape that functions as its green heart. Plant selection draws on the natural flora of Auckland’s surrounding lava fields and the seasonal wildflowers that appear through the Domain itself. The podium feels less like a rooftop amenity and more like a continuation of the park next door. The curated mix of native and exotic species gives residents an ever changing outlook that shifts with the seasons.
The Park Residences’ elevated position, with its sweeping views across the Domain, called for a lighter, more considered touch. Seasonal flowering bulbs and trailing groundcovers were woven along the Carlton Gore Road façade, chosen specifically to soften hard architectural lines without ever competing with the sightlines residents value most.
The brief was as much about restraint as it was about planting: preserve the key vistas into the park, deepen the sense of connection to the landscape beyond, and let the greenery be a natural extension of the Domain, rather than a decorative afterthought bolted onto a façade.
Building a Landscape where none existed fell to GreensceneNZ Landscapes. Turning a vision into a living, thriving landscape whose scope ran from plant procurement through to installation and the programme of maintenance.
Sourcing was the first hurdle. The design called for a range of rare and unusual plant species, many of which are not held in standard nursery stock and had to be tracked down, secured and conditioned specifically for this site – a process that influenced installation timelines as much as the design itself.
Getting plants onto high-rise balconies presented its own logistics problem entirely. Built-in planter boxes, several storeys up, with no crane access and no room for error, meant GreensceneNZ Landscapes crews installed plant material using rope access systems – effectively rigging and climbing their way through the planting programme, balcony by balcony, rather than relying on conventional ground-level methods.
At podium level, the team also built out the internal courtyard areas that now anchor the space between the two residences, translating the design intent into planted reality within a working construction site rather than a blank canvas. What sits between the Park and Garden residences doesn’t look like a rooftop afterthought. It’s layered, seasonal, and inspired from the Domain and the lava fields it looks out onto.
The Domain Collection is a collaboration of experienced experts. We are proud to keep that vision in check with our maintenance programme that keeps it all performing for years to come.
The Domain Collection, 81 Carlton Gore Road, Newmarket. Developed by Precinct Residential with Icon Development. Architecture by Warren and Mahoney. Landscape design by O2 Landscapes. Landscape procurement, installation and maintenance by GreensceneNZ Landscapes.
Photo credit for building photography: Mark Scowen Photography