The garden for this NW, Washington, DC residence was conceived as a venue to display sculptures and entertain. The client, internationally known art patrons, and collectors, commissioned the landscape architect to create their private sculpture garden. The urban property, bordering Rock Creek Park featured a significant stone Georgian house and an overgrown rear garden surrounding a swimming pool. Extensive renovations to the house, for living and for displaying art, gave way to an equally ambitious garden.

The former swimming pool was removed and the resultant sloping garden was subtly terraced. A simple palette of materials, brevity of design gestures, and carefully sited reflecting pool lend to a unified and intimate space. The new garden is enclosed with an American Beech hedge and core-ten steel draped concrete wall. The trees for the beech hedge were personally selected by the landscape architect to ensure specimens that consistently held their leaves throughout the winter. The russet beech leaves extend the earthy color of the core-ten wall embracing the trapezoidal-shaped black granite reflecting pool, which serves as both a foil and pivot point. The glass wall of the living space and interior gallery slides open to engage the limestone entertaining terrace. The terrace makes a seamless connection to the interior and nearly doubles the entertaining area.

The garden elements lend structure, a sense of space and human proportion to the overall garden, while also providing a podium for an ever-changing art collection. The initial sculpture installation includes three original Olafur Eliasson sculptures, one commissioned for the garden, a Louise Bourgeois as well as three Anthony Gormley sculptures.

  • 2014 Honor Award, American Society of Landscape Architects, Potomac Chapter

The garden for this NW, Washington, DC residence was conceived as a venue to display sculptures and entertain. The client, internationally known art patrons, and collectors, commissioned the landscape architect to create their private sculpture garden. The urban property, bordering Rock Creek Park featured a significant stone Georgian house and an overgrown rear garden surrounding a swimming pool. Extensive renovations to the house, for living and for displaying art, gave way to an equally ambitious garden.

The former swimming pool was removed and the resultant sloping garden was subtly terraced. A simple palette of materials, brevity of design gestures, and carefully sited reflecting pool lend to a unified and intimate space. The new garden is enclosed with an American Beech hedge and core-ten steel draped concrete wall. The trees for the beech hedge were personally selected by the landscape architect to ensure specimens that consistently held their leaves throughout the winter. The russet beech leaves extend the earthy color of the core-ten wall embracing the trapezoidal-shaped black granite reflecting pool, which serves as both a foil and pivot point. The glass wall of the living space and interior gallery slides open to engage the limestone entertaining terrace. The terrace makes a seamless connection to the interior and nearly doubles the entertaining area.

The garden elements lend structure, a sense of space and human proportion to the overall garden, while also providing a podium for an ever-changing art collection. The initial sculpture installation includes three original Olafur Eliasson sculptures, one commissioned for the garden, a Louise Bourgeois as well as three Anthony Gormley sculptures.

  • 2014 Honor Award, American Society of Landscape Architects, Potomac Chapter