This summer, gardens and pool decks move beyond style into substance. Landscape designer Josephine Noyce reveals the design ideas redefining outdoor living at The President Hotel in Bantry Bay.
As summer returns to the southern hemisphere, outdoor spaces are once again in focus. But this season, the conversation has shifted. Gardens, patios, and pool decks are no longer just about aesthetics — they’re about atmosphere. They’re becoming restorative, responsive spaces designed to slow us down, heighten the senses, and connect us to places.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Cape Town’s Bantry Bay, where The President Hotel has unveiled a reimagined pool and garden area by award-winning landscape designer Josephine Noyce. Her design captures the new mood of summer — fluid, textural, and quietly luxurious.
1. Curves are the New Corners
“The first thing I noticed was how hard the old layout felt — all straight paving, concentric circles, and obvious divides between lounging and dining,” says Noyce. “I wanted to soften that. Curves invite you to slow down. They suggest there’s more to discover.”
At The President, sharp lines have given way to gentle movement. Flowing pathways, rounded retaining walls, and sinuous planting beds guide guests through spaces that feel more expansive and organic. The result is a garden that flows, breathes, and subtly encourages meandering rather than marching.
2. Texture as Function and Story
In contemporary design, materials are doing more than looking beautiful — they’re working hard and telling stories. “Texture holds history,” says Noyce. “It holds the weather, the memory, and the mood of a place.”
The hotel’s new flooring is a palladiana-style mosaic of acid-washed marble and limestone, custom-cut and hand-sealed for slip resistance and longevity. Supersized grout lines accommodate expansion seamlessly, while boulders from a Paarl quarry, crane-lifted into place, ground the softer, tropical plantings. “I saw a version of this flooring overseas and became obsessed,” she laughs. “It hasn’t really been done here, so we had to invent our own version.”
3. Structured Naturalism
One of the most poetic shifts in landscape design is the move from domination to dialogue — working with nature rather than trying to control it. The structured naturalism trend embraces looser planting styles, prioritising form, texture, and longevity over fleeting bursts of colour.
At The President, tropical-inspired plantings lean into this rhythm. Layers of evergreen grasses — Lomandra Tanika, Dianella “Little Jess,” Philodendron Xanadu, Arthropodium cirratum, and Tulbaghia violacea “White” — weave together a landscape that feels immersive year-round. Planting pockets are integrated into seating layouts, softening architectural edges and drawing guests closer to nature.
“I want people to feel like they’re somewhere between Saunders Tidal Pool and a lush garden,” says Noyce. “It should feel festive but intimate, deeply rooted in the Cape.”
That sense of grounding runs deep: Bantry Bay was once called Botany Bay, after a historic medicinal garden cultivated there. Noyce’s design quietly nods to that legacy — a garden with memory.
4. Levels and Lookouts
Flat lawns are fading out. Subtle shifts in elevation are being used to carve out intimacy, improve flow, and create layers of experience.
“One of the secrets to making a tight space feel generous is level changes,” explains Noyce. “They let you see across and through without dividing the space.”
The redesigned garden now features sunken lounges, raised platforms, and curved beds that break up the former grid, creating distinct yet connected zones. The terraced effect also accommodates hospitality needs like staff circulation and accessibility, without compromising flow. “The brief asked for ample sun loungers,” she says. “We got the capacity — but not in a sardine-style layout. It flows. It breathes.”
5. Lighting for Mood and Use
Lighting, often an afterthought, has become a defining element in outdoor design. “Evenings matter more now,” says Noyce. “Lighting should be about ambience, not exposure.”
Working with a lighting specialist, she created an evening-first scheme — concealed LEDs beneath the bar deck, uplighting in the palms, and soft, ambient glows that highlight texture rather than overpower it. “I stayed over one night to see the garden after dark,” she adds. “It changed everything. I realised it needed to glow, not glare.”
A Reawakening, Not a Reinvention
“We wanted to create an outdoor space guests can truly live in — from sunrise swims to sunset spritzers,” says Joanne Clayton, Brand Director at The President Hotel. “It had to feel calm, flexible, and distinctly Cape Town. Josephine understood that.”
For Noyce, the transformation was never about reinvention. “We were reawakening it,” she says. “The bones were already beautiful. We just added authentic materials, creative intersections, and flexibility.”
In doing so, she’s reframed what a hospitality garden can be: not just beautiful, but intelligent. Not just a backdrop, but a feeling. And in a city where nature often steals the show, The President proves that thoughtful design can meet it with equal grace.
For more information, visit www.presidenthotel.co.za | Email: [email protected] | Call: +27 (0)21 434 8111
