Designing the perfect fire pit….
When it came to this front garden, the entire area was hard surface! Sandstone flagging paving and pebblecrete and concrete pathways dominated the space. The decision was quickly made as a minimum, to turn the space into something a lot more usable, functional and alive with plants!! A main feature of this garden was to be a fire pit! A place to come together, a place to mingle and enjoy the company of others and a focal point of the garden.
When it came to designing the area, there were a few decisions and considerations in the design brief:
- The area must be circular so that any one seated in the area can clearly see and talk too anyone else seated in the area no matter where they sit. This will also mean everyone is an even distance away from the fire
- The area must be sunken to help create intamacy and privacy. We humans like to feel safe and being sunken helps this
- The area can not be too big or too small. Guests need to be a safe distance from the fire yet not too far away they can’t feel it’s radiant heat or too far from each other to be able to communicate
- Recycled hardwood timber posts must be incorporated somehow!?!
- The area must be centred to the existing windows which will soon become sliding doors
- The fire must be smoke free as it will be located near the house and the neighbours
- A mixture of materials in the construction of the fire pit without it looking too busy
With all these considerations a design was penned and the set out and construction commenced. Below are some photos of the early progress as we strived to complete the perfect fire pit!
BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
In the next instalment, we will cover the design solutions to help create the perfect fire pit and tick off all the requirements from the design brief.
