maffei landscape design, LLC: residential design

Showing posts with label residential design. Show all posts

1958 Contemporary Home & Garden

Let's be honest, when you build a house inspired by the ideology of Frank Lloyd Wright in a neighborhood full of traditional brick abodes and European-style manses you are bound to ruffle a few feathers. That is exactly what happened back in 1958 when this home appeared on a wooded corner lot in the Wilmington, Delaware suburb of Greenville, Delaware. A rare residential example of the Prairie Style in the region, the home has also received some local recognition as the boyhood home of Dr. Mehmet Oz who graduated from nearby Tower Hill School. So with all of that attention and notoriety, how does the owner of such a home bring peace to the neighborhood? One way to do it is marry the architecture to the land with gardens that are supportive of the style.

The primary tenet of the Prairie School is to emulate the broad, horizontal characteristics of the mid-western American landscape with indigenous materials, giving the impression that the building emerged from the ground itself. This garden embraces that notion with long vistas within geometric frameworks, punctuated with focal points of stone and water.

The driveway entrance, flanked by stone piers.

The entrance to the property is marked by a pair of stone piers capped with a copper roof that reflects the low angle of that on the house. Nested within the wide eaves are light fixtures to cast downward pools of light onto the stone and lawn below. A threshold of Belgian block separates the public realm from that private and makes a nod to the traditional building practices prevalent in the region. The driveway itself is exposed aggregate concrete intended to suggest the quaint gravel drives of the countryside without the constant maintenance hassles of corralling stray pebbles.

The driveway is exposed aggregate concrete, suggesting a quaint country drive

The entry garden and its long, axial view

Alongside the driveway and connecting the street to the front door is a long, axial walkway that encourages visitors to use a human-scaled entry experience rather than its vehicular counterpart. The plan view of this space shows a deviation of several degrees from parallel to the lines of the house, driven in part by the approach angle of the driveway and to suggest an outward rotation from the interior corner of the house. This creates a sensation of motion in what could feel very static if kept on the rigid rectangular grid set up by the home's floorplan.

The square pool

A raised square pool set at the mid point of the arrival sequence offers a point of interest with aquatic plants and koi, along with audible notes from a bubbling fountain. Surrounded by the Pennsylvania bluestone walkway and flanked by two rows of Paperbark maple (Acer griseum), this node causes the visitor to navigate around the pool, opening up views to the left and right.

The street-facing wall of the house was the unfortunate recipient of modern duct-work run up the center of its Avondale brownstone facade, extending two stories from the heat pump into the attic space. This duct proved very distracting to the owners, so in order to hide it rectangular trelliage was created and wrapped with golf course grade synthetic lawn material. This gives the impression of a living espalier without the maintenance requirements.

Espalier hiding duct-work

The entire design is underpinned with the understanding that the owners are not gardeners and they have a busy life that draws their attention elsewhere. The plants must be easy to care for, requiring only seasonal inputs that are mostly limited to cutting back dormant foliage. Additionally, the incredibly flat site made evacuation of all storm runoff to the curb drains impractical, causing frequently irritating and occasionally damaging ponding or flooding on the property. The new work collects all runoff from the roof and certain areas of the landscape and directs them to a subsurface recharge bed that puts all runoff below ground, eliminating puddles on site and relieving the area of some of the stormwater that contributes to regionalized flooding.

This garden was recently featured on Wilmington Garden Day where is was described as "Unexpected in design, perfect in execution, this house is not simply an homage to a uniquely American style: it is an inviting and invigorating home that links the outside to the inside, benefiting everyone who lives there or visits."

To see "before" and in-progress construction images of this garden please see our Facebook page.

Post by Maffei Landscape Design, LLC.

Highland Mede: A Chester County Retreat

copyright Danilo Maffei/Maffei Landscape Design LLC

The sunroom gardens with stone "fences"

The gardens of this private residence (built in 2006) were designed with 18^th century American agricultural practices in mind while acknowledging modern needs and sensibilities. Spaces are defined by stone “fences” and contain uses that are supportive of the activities located inside the dwelling.

Materials such as natural fieldstone and gravel reflect indigenous sources that would have been typical of the time period, while brick and bluestone suggest more refined tastes and ample resources.

The "Library Patio"

Plant selections draw from long-time European favorites, such as hollies and boxwood, and local natives such as Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) and Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata) which combine characteristics of easy care, deer resistance and multiple seasons of interest.

The Kitchen Garden

The dwelling, designed by Wayne Simpson Architect of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, is an adaptation of the owner's ancestral home known as Primitive Hall, the residence of Judge Joseph Pennock built in 1738.

This modern abode interprets the traditional design for contemporary living, with numerous opportunities for connecting physically and visually with the outdoors, blurring the line between architecture and nature.

The front entrance with parking forecourt

As active members of the Chester County equestrian community, the owners embrace Highland Mede as their home, stable and sanctuary where the owners are just a likely to be found exercising and training their horses as they are casually strolling the gardens at dusk or entertaining family, friends and clients.

The "Sun Room Patio"

The home and gardens have been become a local favorite and are to be featured on the Bayard Taylor Library Home & Garden Tour on June 1, 2013.

In The Field: 1958 Contemporary Garden Nears Completion

A view from the street of the nearly complete front entrance.

This project in Greenville, Delaware left the drawing board in the summer of 2012 and as 2013 rings in, the owners are seeing their vision of maximizing the usefulness of their property become a reality. The contractors broke ground shortly after Labor Day and Maffei Landscape Design has been working closely with the owner and the site supervisor to assure every detail is properly tended to.

Detail view of the front door with its refurbished, original railing.

Because of careful planning and lots of experience on the part of the contractor, the work has flowed very smoothly from one trade to another, and there is just about every trade working on this site. Masons, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters as well as excavators, metal fabricators and, yes, horticulturists have shared the small space with great efficiency. Once spring arrives with its warmer temperatures and availability of the remainder of the plant list, the final touches will be placed on the garden and the owners will have their home to themselves again.

We have prepared a detailed record of the entire project with step by step photographs and descriptions on our Facebook page. Click here to go directly to the album, or visit http://www.facebook.com/MaffeiLandscapeDesign .

Better Landscapes for Better Air Quality

For the cultivated landscape to be truly successful it must pass the Triple Bottom Line test (also known as "People, Planet, Profit"): 1. will it provide benefits to its human users? 2. will it provide benefits to the environment? 3. is it economically viable? See some examples on our Facebook page.

Lets consider these points and in particular how air quality is important to humans and our quality of life. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average human inhales over 3,000 gallons of air each day and along with the vital oxygen we need to live comes all of the other things mixed with it, both good and bad.

"Clean" outdoor air naturally has certain things in it that we would consider harmful, such as carbon dioxide, pollen, dust and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs). When these things are at or below a certain level the human body can function normally and thrive, but when they are experienced above certain levels they can cause irritation at the least or severe health problems, even death, at the worst.

Poor air quality can cause these and other problems in humans:

Well-being is compromised

general sense of comfort or health is degraded
irritation to eyes, nose, throat or skin
allergies or impaired breathing

Productivity is reduced*

concentration on tasks is compromised
sick days result in lost wages
personal productivity or enrichment is lost due to "down time"

Long-term health is placed in jeopardy

reduced activity may lead to other health problems
asthma
cancer

When we are indoors, many of the things that cause these problems may be removed, filtered or diluted. But what about the quality of the air we are breathing outdoors and what of the fact that our indoor air is being supplied from the outdoors? It stands to reason that cleaner outdoor air is essential, but what can we do to improve it? Because air is a gas that seeks to fill its container and because wind and other environmental factors move this gas around constantly it is difficult to measure any kind of regional or global effect by what we do in our own back yards. However, small improvements there can result in measurable differences, especially at the neighborhood or local level.

Make your property more attractive and engaging

creating places that you and others find appealing are more likely to be properly maintained
properly maintained landscapes will continue to function the way they were intended (just like your roof or your car)

Reduce carbon

carbon can be scrubbed from the air with with trees, shrubs and perennial plants, especially those indigenous to the region
reduce energy consumption in the home (heating and cooling), and in the garden (lawn mowers, leaf blowers)

Reduce particulates

less mowing and blowing not only means lower carbon emissions, it also means fewer dust, dirt, exhaust and organic particles that are sent flying through the air
reduce the sources of dust and other airborne particulates by repairing worn or scalped lawn, exposed soil and low-lying areas by planting native shrubs and perennials as a groundcover

Reduce reflected heat

cooler air does not hold airborne particulates as well as warmer air
air can be made cooler by reducing the amount of solar energy that reaches pavements, walls and roofs
consider placing shade trees at the south and southwest corners of your home, create a vegetated wall or retrofit with a green roof

Making these small changes can result not only in improved air quality, but also in monetary savings in reduced fuel costs, maintenance fees, water and energy bills. This was proven in a case study in the city of Santa Monica, CA, where a 68% savings in maintenance labor costs was realized when a "traditional" landscape was compared to one utilizing these and other practices.

Resources

*Usually associated with indoor air quality, but cleaner outdoor can have an effect on this, especially when natural ventilation (open windows and doors) is part of the building design. NCBI Study | CBE Study

Prairie Style: Wilmington, Delaware

This private residence is an example of what can be accomplished when the owners are inspired to make their house a home and celebrate the qualities of garden and architecture that best define their sensibilities. Located in the most unlikely of places, a cramped exurban subdivision full of Postmodern interpretations of Colonial and Federal style houses, the owners chose to realize their vision here where they have put down their roots.

These images (taken nine months after installation) depict the front of the house, which in the American residential landscape is typically the sacrificial offering to passersby and the neighbor across the street. Not so with this home, where the design intentionally responds to the the owners' wishes first and everyone else second. Groupings of winter blooming Primavera Witchhazel (Hamamelis x intermedia 'Primavera') command the center of the front lawn to diminish views of public asphalt as seen from the newly remodeled dining room and the new glass and bluestone vestibule.
A circular garden niche on the right side is lined with Fastigate Hornbeams (Carpinus betulus 'Fastigiata') and Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina domestica), creating at once a human-scaled destination and visual buffering of the neighboring domicile a scant 40 feet away. The home office window peers through the branches of an existing Japanese Snowbell (Styrax obassia) and into this space, offering peaceful and private scenery.

On the left side a narrow, low-lying space was transformed into a Japan-esque woodland walk that simultaneously provides conveyance for both garden visitors and rainwater. Before being renovated, this area was muddy, eroded and generally devoid of interest due to the demands placed on it by feet and slowly draining puddles. These conditions were celebrated by elevating the walking surface above the ground level and selecting plants that would thrive in shady, moist conditions. The path was created with granite stepping stones inspired by large rocks crossing a stream and arranged as a Japanese plank bridge. Each stone was hand cut from a massive slab of Pennsylvania granite and tooled to provide just the right dimensions and nonslip texture. The sides purposely sport the markings left by the tools that fractured them from the parent rock, offering character and an interesting story to tell.

Learn more about this project and its evolution by seeing it On The Drawing Board and being installed In The Field. Danilo Maffei creates landscapes that embrace the environmental, social and economic aspects of the garden and crafts them into a meaningful and useful whole.

In The Field: Federal Style in York, Pennsylvania

The parking court walls have been constructed, continuing the theme set by the architecture.

The relocated American boxwood frame the front
facade while maintaining a sense of maturity.

The extended brick wall seems to finish
the intent of the original.

Solid progress is being made on this renovation project which is a collaboration between Maffei Landscape Design, the owner, the builder and the landscape contractor.

The water feature has been formed and poured
as a custom fit to the existing wall.

The builder's expertise and familiarity with the house has enabled him to produce a virtually seemless transition into the constructed portions of the landscape, including the extension of the brick wall in the back yard, modifying the front door and stoop, realignment of the driveway and the construction of the parking court walls.

The landscape contractor relocated the 6' American boxwoods per the Master Plan to allow better views of the front facade and is constructing the water feature nestled into the existing brick wall.

On The Drawing Board: 1958 Contemporary

The disfunctional circular driveway will be replaced with a smaller
parking court, shade trees and low shrubs. A rain chain and
urn will receive water from the small roof above the front door.

Not far from Winterthur in northern Delaware this architectural gem, with Prairie and International influences, was built in 1960 and is being nursed back to vibrancy by its current owners. The landscape will feature a redesigned driveway that will slash impervious surface by 25% while increasing its capacity and functionality. A new allee of trees will screen views and provide a shady entrance, accented by a square fountain and bluestone walkways set at a subtle angle that suggest movement and space.

The driveway entrance will receive a pair of stone piers to
match the details of the house. Broad cap eaves will
hold recessed light fixtures to illuminate the ground only.

An allee of trees will frame the bluestone walkway and a
small square fountain.

The back yard will receive a new patio to support a larger table for entertaining dinner guests al fresco with a large grill set in a counter top positioned for casual conversation while cooking. The utmost sensitivity will be given to the mature trees, such as the Scarlet Oak with its 42" diameter trunk, and managing storm runoff water quality with recharge trenches on the virtually pancake-flat lot.

Currently in design development, we will be exploring options for construction materials and methods, such as pervious concrete or exposed aggregate concrete driveway surfaces, LED bollard lights, rain chains, art objects, native groundcovers and canopy trees with multi-season interest.

On The Drawing Board: Federal Style in York, Pennsylvania

This 30-year old house is the new home for a couple who intend to use it for business entertaining, fund-raising and family gatherings. It is situated on a two-acre parcel on sloping ground with dramatic views of the city. Maffei Landscape Design, LLC was hired to create a master plan to maximize usable space and support the owners' interests in classical architecture and gardens, art and furniture. The following images and sketches represent the initial impressions and preliminary design solutions presented to the client.

On The Drawing Board: Chester County Farmhouse

Nestled among the rolling hills of Glenmoore, Pennsylvania is this stone farmhouse built in 1860, where the owners have spent the past eight years restoring and improving this beautiful example of Chester County vernacular architecture. With those efforts well in hand they are turning their attention to the outdoors, specifically the space associated with a spring-fed pond on the east side of the property.

Like most water-edge landscapes, the space affords lovely views and tremendous opportunity but can be difficult to maintain with traditional (i.e. mowed lawn, mulched bed shrub borders, etc) methods due to wet soils, steep embankments and indigenous or naturalized wildlife. Having become frustrated with that course of action, the owners turned to Maffei Landscape Design, LLC to prepare an overarching vision for the pond area and a planting plan to address a particularly boggy area at the end of the pond nearest the house.

The master plan was developed through careful site analysis that took into consideration pedestrian circulation, ideal views, available usable space and natural landforms. A path was created that enabled guests to move around the pond and connect with the water's edge at two key points, one of them being a small space large enough for two people to sit with their feet in the water or get into a rowboat, the other a "party dock" with dramatic views back to the house and large enough for dining or dancing.

Future view from the "party dock"

Spaces around the pond are organized by the physical and cultural characteristics present, there being three: pond edge, riparian zone and swale. Each of these cultural environments support different plant types and feature their own distinct aesthetic. By identifying and delineating these environments we can create a landscape plan that will take full advantage of the plants that will thrive there with the least amount of effort and look great!

Concept Plan

Planting Plan

Using the master plan to define the context, a planting plan was created as the first phase to be installed in spring of 2012. A "path" of partially buried, vertical tree trunk sections will provide access for maintenance and to the water's edge for recreation. Bands of plants were defined based on soil types and the degree of moisture typically found there, ranging from submerged aquatics such as hardy waterlily to moisture-tolerant perennials you might find in a traditional border, like Purple Coneflower, Smooth Oxeye and Shenandoah Switchgrass.

Detail view of log round steppers

Planting Plan detail

In The Field: Prairie Style Nears Completion

With the weather being less than an ally this year, progress has been measured in stops and starts, but we are near the finale. The most recent progress involved fine tuning some details on existing stone work, creating new rock "outcroppings", bed preparation and installation of plants.

Autumn descends on the newly planted garden

A detail overlooked by the masons that worked on the house itself was the treatment of the edges of the Pennsylvania bluestone at the foyer and entry terrace. While the tops of the stone have a lightly textured, dimpled finish, the edges were sporting a very uncouth saw cut that looked raw and incomplete in contrast to the adjoining face.

Unfinished bluestone edge

The solution to this problem is "flaming" as described in an earlier post. This involves extreme heating of the stone surface with an acetylene torch to the point that a thin layer of stone shatters with its sudden, heat-induced expansion. Our masonry subcontractor was careful to protect the surrounding area with a heavy and quite disposable sheet of plywood while he performed this task. The sound of hissing gas and exploding rock made me think of being inside a giant popcorn popper, as I silently prayed that only the intended edges were the things exploding.

Joe artfully demolishes one millimeter of bluestone

Cardboard boxes fill in for shrubs

Quick digital manipulation aids decisions

The bluestone was not the only thing in the garden having its edges tended to. The intersection of the garden with the cul-de-sac also needed some attention, with the driving motive of making this huge circle of asphalt seem a little less imposing. We studied this at length from many angles, both inside and outside the house. The images show the view through the dining room window and the street. The cardboard boxes are a mock-up of where shrubs might be placed to soften the visual impact of the street, while some quick photo manipulation aided us in imagining the final appearance of the improvements on approach to the house. This exercise ultimately led us to the conclusion that this area of the garden needed more of a backstory to avoid it appearing trite and one-dimensional, so we expanded upon the stone theme prevalent not only on the property, but in the surrounding cultural landscape that features boulders and natural stone constructions. Large, flat slabs of indigenous rock were scouted at a nearby quarry and tagged by the owner and myself, and placed in the garden to simulate the fractured leading edge of a massive and largely buried geologic formation. Care was taken to place the boulders to suggest eons of imperceptible, tectonic plate-like movement, while opportunistic witchhazels (Hamamelis x intermedia 'Primavera') and stonecrop (Sedum ternatum) leap into the resulting gaps.

Stone slabs suggest a buried geologic formation

With the constructed elements installed and the heavy equipment out of the way, we turned our attention to the improvement of the soil and installation of plants. The aesthetic of the front yard was envisioned to balance the man-made with the natural, pairing recognizable geometric shapes, such as rectangles (in the case of the house), circles and arcs with natural plant communities such as those found in local woodlands and stream banks. While the plant list does not strictly demand Mid-Atlantic or even North American natives, the selections do embrace naturalistic or naturalized species that do not possess any weedy, invasive tendencies. Sod was used for the lawn installation to provide instant erosion control and expedite aesthetic gratification.