Generational Homeplace

Generational Homeplace developed in stages over a nine-year period, this single-family residential commission started with a site survey to determine the most appropriate site for locating the house to include best views from upper story windows and two-level access to outdoor activity areas.  Besides the initial site-wide master plan and house construction grading requirements, four major landscape areas were developed in detail and construction completed.  These included the Entry Drive and Parking Area, Pedestrian Entry Walk and Steps with Water Feature, Courtyard Garden, and Terraced Kitchen Garden.  One area, the Dragon’s Lair Earthen-form Play Sculpture, was designed and the landform installed but as the children grew, some sculpture details were eliminated.  The Work and Play Entry Landscape Plan design was approved, but only one building was sited before economic considerations changed the landscape development program.  The homeowners were responsible for hiring the individual contractors and setting payment and installation schedules to install all the landscape elements.

The overall master plan for this 20.21 acre ongoing environmental sculptural landscape project included 34 defined elements (entry drive and parking, groves and orchard, boat dock and swimming beach, children’s earth sculpture play space, formal follies, great lawns and wildflower meadows, lakeshore paths, and ornamental water gardens).  When combined, these elements created a variety of active and passive recreational opportunities throughout the site.  The entry spaces and visual focal points were enjoyed by both family and guests, while the lower Courtyard and Kitchen Garden rooms were enjoyed exclusively by the family.

All elements were designed to meet stormwater drainage and erosion control conditions of the site. Through a client-oriented interactive design development program, the final landscape designs and construction/installations were created through collaboration between client, environmental sculptor/landscape architect Layne, builder, horticulturalist, stone subcontractors, and other artists.

The design concept for the courtyard and kitchen garden plan was based on the idea of creating two outdoor rooms that are connected by the three hillside terraces and a set of stone steps.  The intention was to develop outdoor spaces that support the transition between indoor and outdoor environments by using hardscape materials to create floors, shrub screens to represent walls, and an arbor of trees to provide a canopy or feeling of ceiling in the outdoor gardens.

In keeping with the house design, circles, arches and arcs were incorporated in the layout of the stone walls, the upper patio and main courtyard shapes, the gravel tree-lined alleé walk, and the three wood and metal arbors.  The quadrafoil-shaped pool and the spiral stairs align with the central axis of the courtyard with the pool being aligned in the other direction with the connecting stone steps, the entrance and exit arbors and the pathway to the stream.

The four stonewalls of the terrace gardens arch out from the upper patio creating planting beds for cutting flowers and cooking herbs.  The stacked stone walls taper and vanish into the hillside grade.  The lowest stonewall creates a planter under the south facing windows of the lower level of the house.

The paving stones of both the upper patio and the lower courtyard are rectilinear, in contrast to the wall and step stones.  The semiformal geometric pattern is created using a variety of shapes and sizes with the largest stones located at strategic threshold and vista points.  The exposed edge of the courtyard paving rests on a thickened edge of concrete that has been perforated with nine half circles to accommodate dwarfed crepe myrtles (lagistromia indica or faurei).  Mirrored half circles punctuate the earth opposite, creating an alleé of nine pairs of myrtles.  The ground between the alleé is filled with loose pea gravel, providing a cool place for a leisurely stroll.

The overall effect, framed by the myrtle allee, is an outdoor environment which provides for quality views of the lake and surrounding landscape.  This house extension, free from wind and prying eyes, is a perfect place for family and friends to sun-bathe, cool off in the pool, share a meal, or simply relax in the outdoor room.