Balinese: Essentially tropical in nature, Balinese gardens often have expansive lawn areas and art objects relating to Bali or its people and culture.

Because of a recent trend to admire all things Balinese in tropical architecture and landscape design, we need to discuss just what elements go into creating Balinese landscape architeture. Bali is an Indonesian island in the Malay Archipelago and has become a unique standard for island living around the world. Of particular interest is the fact that a great deal of the Balinese design concept is rather contemporary and not exclusively rooted in historical Balinese culture. It is instead an evolving art form that is being created by the modern day Balinese people and the many expatriates from around the world that are now living there.  Both native and expatriate artists have been adding to and merging both modern and traditional art forms and creating something very special in the process. One of the major concepts is insuring that both the interior and exterior spaces are merged together to create an integrated living space rather than to separate them, as is the norm in most cultures. The total atmosphere or ambiance is that of an all-pervasive tropical charm as demonstrated in the architecture, landscape and interior design and the artwork integrated within those environments. There is ample evidence of considerable artistic stretching towards excellence and originality from artists and craftsmen living in Bali today. Because of the large number of foreign artists that reside in Bali, a new tropical internationalism has come into being. You can easily see influences from Japan, Australia, Borneo, India, United States, Europe and many other foreign cultures mingled into any given Balinese garden scheme. This is reflected in the landscape primarily in non-plant materials and art objects that are used in the garden. There is almost always a feeling of spaciousness in the outdoor garden “rooms”. When grass is used, it is in generous swathes and usually leads the observer’s vision to a focal point in the landscape. Some of the common elements to incorporate in the Balinese landscape architecture would be hammocks, laminated furniture, sand blasted or acid washed glass art, mother of pearl lamps, mobile’s, chimes. Batik cloth fabric, tropical art collections on covered terraces, white stucco walls and paving surfaces (called Palimanan), coconut wood in numerous forms and objects, Balinese sculptures, Indonesian paintings, bamboo, coconut fiber, palm tree wood, sea shells and iron wood. Plant material could be almost anything tropical as Bali has imported and uses many world standards such as coconut palms, frangipani, ginger, bamboo, banana and bird of paradise.

Photo Palette Offerings

(Obviously, only a small sampling of related garden elements can reasonably be displayed, but the viewer should be able to use these as a springboard to develop their own design palette.)

Balinese Decorative Elements

Balinese Garden Scene

Balinese Hardscape Elements

Balinese Media

Balinese Plants