wolgan valley

Emirates Wolgan Valley, A Ritz-Carlton Lodge

In The Valley time is not as we know it – it is ancient, infinite, quiet, now.

For Landsberg Garden Design, the Wolgan Valley is not just a project. It is a living, powerful landscape that demands every sense be engaged. Before a single mark was made on paper, we walked the land — watching its light, listening to its silences, reading its ecology, sensing its memory. This is the beginning of that story. Come with us as we document the full journey of re-grounding a world-class wilderness resort into one of Australia's most extraordinary landscapes.

The great cliffs have stood sentinel over millenia watching the light of the morning sun stir the valley with the freshness of each new beginning.

The heat hazes rise in their season, at other times the frosts chill the night air.

Rain comes.

The eagles fly over.

It could be any time.

Ancient and yet now.

It waits for you.

The Story.

Welcome to Wolgan Valley - Emirates Wolgan Valley, A Ritz-Carlton Resort. This is the story of Landsberg Garden Design’s involvement in a profound and beautiful project - a piece of the Earth we feel represents our values and

The previous Emirates Wolgan Valley OneandOnly Resort closed due to a landslip that blocked access to the valley. For the last 2 and a half years it has been closed to the public, but in 2025 it was reawakened and set to open with a new vision.

See press releases below covering its closure:

The Landsberg Garden team have been asked to design the landscape surrounding a world first wilderness resort in the Wolgan Valley - Emirates Wolgan Valley, A Ritz Carlton Lodge.

We are connecting the landscapes around the lodges and communal areas into the beautiful biodiverse ecologies of Wollemi and Gardens of Stone National Parks. We are integrating our design into 20 years of conservation efforts to preserve and replenish the essence and identity of nature in the Wolgan Valley.

Exploring the Valley

Part of our pre-design processes includes exploration - where are we? What defining features does the existing landscape present? What does the Earth desire to be seen and heard?

We have to be listeners.

In the Wolgan Valley this included getting to site - with the usual public road closed, the second way to reach the site without a helicopter is via the Donkey steps - a VERY steep 4WD only road that scales the iconic Blue Mountains escarpment - straight down!

This photo series explores our experience quite literally descending into the valley.

Design Elements…

Rammed Earth Walls

Our design cannot be timid here. It would feel disconnected from the natural grandeur around it. Rammed earth walls, built from the soil of this place, rise and undulate with the contours of the land, echoing the colour and texture of the cliffs above. They ground each building, transforming the sense of floating into one of belonging.

Atelier Viercant Pots

Creating Scale. Texture. Vessel.

Atelier Viercant pots create a statement throughout our design. These pieces are bold, create scale and texture to enhance the landscape. We have used them en-masse to connect indoor and outdoor space and as a vessel for bringing life into the resort.

Huge, hand-thrown vessels reflect the texture and scale of the environment, bring in echoes of water flow and allow architectural planting to enrich and enliven the arrival experience.

Planting Design and Ecology

Since 2006, over one million native trees and shrubs have been planted here as part of an extraordinary conservation effort, and the resort has long stood as a benchmark for carbon-zero hospitality. We are continuing this legacy - rebuilding soil, restoring endemic plant communities, and designing with fire resilience, climate and local wildlife always front of mind.

The spaces are intimate yet expansive. A strategy to bridge the gap between garden and ecology - to make the architecture feel both rooted and luminous in private spaces and lead your imagination to the broader landscape beyond.

To create this landscape identity through planting started with understanding the local ecologies of the Wolgan Valley. These include Blue Gum Forest, Stringybark grassy woodland, wildflower meadows and Sandstone heathlands that influenced the palette and informed our microclimates.

As designers, to translate these cues into a landscape is to consider all the users of this space – human and non-human alike.