Wild cities and concrete corridors: How AI is reimagining the landscape

Drifts of ground cover plants and wildflowers along the steps of the Sydney Opera House, traffic obscured by meadow-like planting and kangaroos pausing on city streets.

This is the way our cities could be, as imagined by landscape architect Jon Hazelwood, principal at multi-disciplinary architectural firm Hassell. He has been exploring the possibilities of rewilding urban spaces using AI for his Instagram account, Naturopolis_ai with visually arresting outcomes.

“It took me a few weeks to get interesting results,” he said. “I really like the ephemeral nature of the images — you will never see it again and none of those plants are real.

“The AI engine makes an approximation of a grevillea.”

Hazelwood chose some of the most iconic locations in Australia, including the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, as well as international cities such as Paris and London, to demonstrate the impact of untamed green spaces on streetscapes, plazas and public space.

He said he hopes to provoke a conversation about the artificial separation between our cities and the broader environment, exploring ways to break down the barriers and promote biodiversity.

“A lot of the planning (for public spaces) is very limited,” Hazelwood said. “There are 110,000 species of plants in Australia and we probably use about 12 in our (public) planting schemes.

“Often it’s for practical reasons because they’re tough and drought tolerant — but it’s not the whole story.”

Hazelwood pointed to the work of UK landscape architect Prof Nigel Dunnett, who has championed wild garden design in urban spaces. He has drawn interest in recent years for his work transforming the brutalist apartment block at the Barbican in London into a meadow-like environment with diverse plantings of grasses and perennials.

Hazelwood said it is this kind of ‘complex nature’ that is required for cities to thrive into the future, but it can be hard to convince planners and developers of the benefits.

“We have been doing a lot of work on how we get complex nature because complexity of species drives biodiversity,” he said.

“But when we try to propose the space the questions are: how are we going to maintain it? Where is the lawn?

“A lot of our work is demonstrating you can get those things and still provide a complex environment.”

At the moment, Hassell together with the University of Melbourne is trialling options at the Hills Showground Metro Station in Sydney, where the remaining ground level planting has been replaced with more than 100 different species of plants and flowers to encourage diversity without the need for regular maintenance. But more needs to be done, Hazelwood said.

“It needs bottom-up change,” he said. ““There is work being done at government level around nature positive cities, but equally there needs to be changes in the range of plants that nurseries grow, and in the way our city landscapes are maintained and managed.”

And there’s no AI option for that.

A newly completed waterfront residence in Rose Bay has emerged as the latest test of Sydney’s trophy-home market, with the property reportedly carrying expectations of $100 million.

Set on around 830 sqm at 2A Bayview Hill Road, the five-level home occupies a secluded position overlooking Sydney Harbour. Its 180-degree outlook moves from Rose Bay Beach across the city skyline and Harbour Bridge to the North Shore, with glass used extensively throughout the house to keep the view at the centre of the interiors.

The property has been listed following a four-year construction program undertaken for developer Stuart Rose and his wife, Irina. The couple has reportedly decided to relocate overseas, bringing the newly finished home to market with Michael Pallier of Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty and Brad Pillinger of Pillinger.

The site has a notable history. Easybeats lead guitarist and songwriter Harry Vanda and his wife, Robyn, bought the waterfront holding for $667,500 in 1983. They later built a substantial brick residence on the property and retained it for more than three decades.

The Vandas sold the site to the Roses for $15.5 million in February 2015. That transaction provides a striking starting point for the property’s transformation: the earlier house has since made way for an entirely new residence designed around its direct harbour position.

The main living floor is arranged as a sequence of open spaces framed by extensive glazing and marble. A broad balcony extends the entertaining area towards the water, while a sheltered internal courtyard with custom banquette seating offers a more protected outdoor setting.

The principal kitchen combines a large marble island with concealed appliances. A separate butler’s kitchen adds two Wolf ovens and an integrated Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer, allowing large-scale entertaining to operate without overtaking the main room.

Accommodation includes four ensuite bedrooms, with the main suite opening to a balcony and incorporating a large dressing room. An office and upper lounge can be adapted as a further bedroom suite, while the top level has the flexibility to function as a self-contained apartment with its own kitchenette.

The scale of the entertainment spaces becomes clearer on the lower levels. A dedicated wine lounge incorporates a temperature-controlled cellar, fireplace and bar. Elsewhere, a cinema with custom seating sits alongside music, library and games areas, supported by a third full kitchen.

The wellness component is described as a fitness centre rather than simply a gym. It includes a spa zone and waterfront lounge, with marble foundations already prepared should a future owner wish to add a steam room and sauna.

Outside, a mosaic-tiled heated infinity pool and spa are positioned above a level lawn and sun deck. A covered terrace contains a built-in gaucho grill, while the harbourside loggia and boathouse sit at the water’s edge with an outdoor shower and steps descending directly into the harbour.

A lift connects all five levels. Other inclusions extend to hydronic heating beneath marble floors, ducted air-conditioning, integrated sound, Control4 automation, CCTV, irrigation, solar panels and battery backup. A long gated driveway leads to garaging for three cars, including a stacker, with a forecourt and turning circle.

The listing arrives ahead of the Spring rush for trophy homes in Sydney’s premium harbourside pockets. Kanebridge recently featured Radford, the historic Wolseley Road waterfront home listed with an $85 million guide, followed by Deauville at 16 Longworth Avenue, which is seeking between $85 million and $90 million.

The reported $100 million expectation places the campaign, being run by conjunctional agents Michael Pallier from Sydney Sotheby’s and Brad Pillinger from Pillinger, within rare company. Only a small number of Sydney houses have crossed that threshold, including the Point Piper estates Fairwater, Elaine and UIG Lodge. A few doors down is the Bayview Hill Road home that sold for just over $83 million earlier this year to billionaires Alex and Vanessa Birkenstock, of the German leather sandal-family.

Property summary

– Address: 2A Bayview Hill Road, Rose Bay, NSW
– Price expectation: Reportedly $100 million
– Land: Approximately 830sqm
– Residence: Newly completed, five-level absolute-waterfront home
– Accommodation: Four ensuite bedrooms plus flexible fifth-bedroom or self-contained upper-level accommodation
– Key interiors: Main marble kitchen, butler’s kitchen, third kitchen, cinema, wine lounge and temperature-controlled cellar
– Wellness: Gym and spa zone, with provision for a steam room and sauna
– Waterfront: Heated infinity pool and spa, level lawn, harbourside loggia, boathouse and direct harbour access
– Parking: Triple garage including stacker, plus forecourt and turning circle
– Technology: Control4 automation, CCTV, integrated sound, solar panels and battery backup
– Previous sale: $15.5 million in February 2015
– Selling agents: Michael Pallier, Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty; Brad Pillinger, Pillinger

Wild cities and concrete corridors: How AI is reimagining the landscape

A new AI-driven account by leading landscape architect Jon Hazelwood pushes the boundaries on the role of ‘complex nature’ in the future of our cities