Fuchsia City

A low, spread-out town of dark timber and white plaster, built in a traditional style and backing directly onto the great reserve. Buildings are single-storey with wide overhanging eaves and roofs of dark grey tile that curve up slightly at the ridge ends. Walls combine white rendered panels with exposed dark wood posts and beams. Streets are unpaved, of raked pale gravel, edged with lines of set stones. Small enclosed gardens sit between the buildings, each with a clipped pine, a stone basin of standing water and carefully placed rocks. Bamboo screens and slatted fences divide the plots. A long low boundary fence of split timber runs along the northern edge where the town meets the reserve. Beyond it the managed grassland begins abruptly. Everything is horizontal, muted and precisely arranged. The light is warm and the shadows under the eaves are deep.