Manatuck Beach
Watch Hill, RI
Our design for the landscape surrounding this turn-of-the-20th-century, shingle-style house on the Rhode Island coast takes its cues from the architecture with architectonic plantings, softened and balanced by naturalistic borders. We relocated the drive and parking area to the edge of the lot where they would not break the sight lines to the ocean and screened them with native plants. Rustic stairs descend a slope from the house to the backyard, complementing the building’s stone cladding.
We introduced a new stone wall in the front yard to create a plinth of lawn that visually supports the house. The house had been sited to optimize views, not in relation to the road or the dense seaside neighborhood around the property, so we created a new play lawn, bordered by curving beds of native plants, to mediate between the geometry of the house and its built surroundings. On the west side of the residence, the inclusion of a pool terrace with a spa and firepit affords an outdoor gathering space, carefully placed adjacent to the porch off the house while respecting wetland and side yard setbacks. We also introduced a crisp privet hedge to screen the street without disrupting the views from the elevated porch and provide a frame for the lush plantings within the property.
The landscape sequence extends down the hill to a lower yard at the rear of the house, where the owners can enjoy views of a larger landscape defined by a neighboring wetland. Within this space, we applied the formal language of the architecture to a new bocce court, a vegetable garden, and a secondary parking court.
Years after completing the initial landscape project, we were asked to revisit the master plan design to incorporate a new pool and spa terrace area. Existing flood zones and wetland setbacks required careful design consideration to incorporate this new program into a narrow sliver of landscape between the property line and house and required extensive permitting to fit this program into the site. The steeply sloping grades required a retaining wall to support the new pool area, and the wall was detailed and crafted to match the historic stone veneer on the historic architecture. The new pool terrace fits seamlessly into the existing landscape.
Collaborators: Hammer Architects
Images: Caryn Davis
Watch Hill, RI
Our design for the landscape surrounding this turn-of-the-20th-century, shingle-style house on the Rhode Island coast takes its cues from the architecture with architectonic plantings, softened and balanced by naturalistic borders. We relocated the drive and parking area to the edge of the lot where they would not break the sight lines to the ocean and screened them with native plants. Rustic stairs descend a slope from the house to the backyard, complementing the building’s stone cladding.
We introduced a new stone wall in the front yard to create a plinth of lawn that visually supports the house. The house had been sited to optimize views, not in relation to the road or the dense seaside neighborhood around the property, so we created a new play lawn, bordered by curving beds of native plants, to mediate between the geometry of the house and its built surroundings. On the west side of the residence, the inclusion of a pool terrace with a spa and firepit affords an outdoor gathering space, carefully placed adjacent to the porch off the house while respecting wetland and side yard setbacks. We also introduced a crisp privet hedge to screen the street without disrupting the views from the elevated porch and provide a frame for the lush plantings within the property.
The landscape sequence extends down the hill to a lower yard at the rear of the house, where the owners can enjoy views of a larger landscape defined by a neighboring wetland. Within this space, we applied the formal language of the architecture to a new bocce court, a vegetable garden, and a secondary parking court.
Years after completing the initial landscape project, we were asked to revisit the master plan design to incorporate a new pool and spa terrace area. Existing flood zones and wetland setbacks required careful design consideration to incorporate this new program into a narrow sliver of landscape between the property line and house and required extensive permitting to fit this program into the site. The steeply sloping grades required a retaining wall to support the new pool area, and the wall was detailed and crafted to match the historic stone veneer on the historic architecture. The new pool terrace fits seamlessly into the existing landscape.
Collaborators: Hammer Architects
Images: Caryn Davis
Watch Hill, RI
Our design for the landscape surrounding this turn-of-the-20th-century, shingle-style house on the Rhode Island coast takes its cues from the architecture with architectonic plantings, softened and balanced by naturalistic borders. We relocated the drive and parking area to the edge of the lot where they would not break the sight lines to the ocean and screened them with native plants. Rustic stairs descend a slope from the house to the backyard, complementing the building’s stone cladding.
We introduced a new stone wall in the front yard to create a plinth of lawn that visually supports the house. The house had been sited to optimize views, not in relation to the road or the dense seaside neighborhood around the property, so we created a new play lawn, bordered by curving beds of native plants, to mediate between the geometry of the house and its built surroundings. On the west side of the residence, the inclusion of a pool terrace with a spa and firepit affords an outdoor gathering space, carefully placed adjacent to the porch off the house while respecting wetland and side yard setbacks. We also introduced a crisp privet hedge to screen the street without disrupting the views from the elevated porch and provide a frame for the lush plantings within the property.
The landscape sequence extends down the hill to a lower yard at the rear of the house, where the owners can enjoy views of a larger landscape defined by a neighboring wetland. Within this space, we applied the formal language of the architecture to a new bocce court, a vegetable garden, and a secondary parking court.
Years after completing the initial landscape project, we were asked to revisit the master plan design to incorporate a new pool and spa terrace area. Existing flood zones and wetland setbacks required careful design consideration to incorporate this new program into a narrow sliver of landscape between the property line and house and required extensive permitting to fit this program into the site. The steeply sloping grades required a retaining wall to support the new pool area, and the wall was detailed and crafted to match the historic stone veneer on the historic architecture. The new pool terrace fits seamlessly into the existing landscape.
Collaborators: Hammer Architects
Images: Caryn Davis