TAG landscape
Just as construction of our Mystic Lake house was winding down, the neighbor’s house was demolished and construction began on their own new house; what goes around, comes around! And soon winter will have to arrive presumably; other than an odd snowfall around Halloween we’ve escaped so far. So, we will have to wait to do a full (professional) photo shoot until spring. In the meantime, our client shared the lovely photos below.
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- The house settles into its lake-side site, a collage of discrete volumes stepping down to the steeply sloping lawn.
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- The glassy living room volume seen from the lake.
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- The house is built close to the street to maximize the size of the yard on the lake side; by spring we should start seeing the re-naturalized landscaping designed by Matthew Cunningham.
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- With time, the front yard will grow up to screen much of the front of the house, merging house and landscape. You can see additional information on Matthew’s design in our August 30, 2011 blog post.
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- The cantilevered living room volume hovers above the lake-side yard. We wanted to keep the footprint of the lower level as small as possible, hence the cantilevered volumes of the main living spaces; this also helps reduce and control the scale of the house on the lake side, which would otherwise have felt too massive.
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- The glassy living room volume is on the left, and the home office and master bedroom roof deck are within the smaller volume on the right; between these is the main deck, with wide steps leading down to the yard and a lower terrace.
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- The five foot wide steps lead down to a lower terrace with hot tub, and to granite steps set into the hill that lead down to the lake.
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- The glassy living room cube hovers above Mystic Lake. From inside you really feel like you are floating on the lake.
Westport River house is complete!
It’s been awhile since we posted an update for our Westport project, the modern house Ruhl Walker Architects designed to float above its Westport River site, and that we introduced back in January and April. Rick and Susan have moved in and were even able to enjoy the summer while some finish work and landscaping continued. We directly benefited from some of this fun, not only because Rick and Susan were in such good spirits and kept telling us how much they loved their new house, but also because we were treated to an amazing feast with our design partners from Reed Hilderbrand and Oblio Design on August 6th. Out of a great project experience have grown some wonderful friendships!
A few weeks after the celebration, Will Ruhl returned to discuss the “punch list”, which was unusually short given the excellent craftsmanship provided by the general contractor, Gilman, Guidelli, Bellow, & Co. It was actually more of a list of potential design modifications, minor tweaks to fine tune a few of the built details. Some fun work for Rick to ponder this fall!
Reed Hilderbrand’s landscape design is looking great already, and thanks to a violent rainstorm we witnessed first hand the wonderfully interactive water gathering rock gardens that coordinate perfectly with the house’s scuppers and waterfall element.
We are excited about some publication possibilities that have already come our way; publish or die… Keep tuned in for updates on that!
 The east side of the house, viewed from a pea stone parking court. |  The front door is on the side of a covered front porch, at the top of a 60” wide mahogany ramp. To the left is a grilling porch, protected from the prevailing breezes by the screened porch beyond. |
 The windows on the east façade are sized for selected views and to enhance cross ventilation. |  The two architectural bars of the house are visible through the woods on the north side of the house. In the foreground on the right is an outdoor shower cube with slatted cedar siding that matches the base of the house. |
 The house appears to float above its site along the Westport River. |  The main living spaces are in the upper, all glass bar of the house, with guest rooms and storage built within existing basement spaces below. |
 As you approach the house from the river, you become aware that the master bedroom windows on the far left are in a different plane from the living room windows. Between the two is a walnut clad volume that houses a fireplace and closets; this walnut cladding continues inside in both the living room and master bedroom. |  60” wide custom galvanized steel and mahogany stairs lead up to an upper deck, adjacent to a large screened porch. Below the screened porch is an open-air storage room protected from the elements by a wall of cedar slats held apart to allow ventilation. |
 The main living and dining space, along with the screened porch and the master suite, has 10’ ceiling heights, and a wall of glass facing the river. At the end of the space is a wall of bleached walnut paneling around a fireplace clad in black slate. A TV is concealed to the left of the fireplace behind flush walnut paneling. |  The dining area is completely open to the kitchen, and finishes in the kitchen match those of the living space. Flooring throughout is bleached Ash. |
 Kitchen cabinets are bleached walnut. At the right is a floor to ceiling door leading to the grilling deck. |  At the end of the compact hallway separating the master suite and home office is a wall of glass with views into the woods and of the roof scupper / waterfall. |
 Behind the living area is an open stair leading down to a lower level family room. Beyond is a small sitting area with a window that brings in ample morning light. |  The west wall of the living / dining space is virtually all glass, with views of the Westport River and glorious sunsets. |
 One wall of the master bedroom is paneled with walnut, and conceals closets and cabinetry; this material is aligned with the walnut volume visible on the west façade of the house. All built-ins, as well as the bed and side tables are custom designed by Oblio Design. |  A closer view of the wall of storage in the master bedroom. |
 The stair railings inside match the exterior steel railing details, with stainless steel guards and walnut hand rail. The light is aniline dyed wood veneer. |  Remember where this all started?... |
Fresh, Modern Landscape for Mystic Lake House
Our landscape architect, Matthew Cunningham, and our landscape contractor, Martin Lucyk, have been making great strides with the completion of the landscape installation at our Mystic Lake house, and a viable (and beautiful!) alternative to suburban lawns and foundation planting is quickly coming to life!
Matthew’s design philosophy begins with the concept that “a garden is a living organism, evolving over time.” This is already palpable, as one gets the strong sense that this landscape on Mystic Lake will develop over time and heal its site, becoming verdant woodland and erasing memories of the traditional suburban landscape that once was, as well as memories of the cacophony of almost a year of construction. The primary character of the landscape will be woodland, but the heavily vegetated front and sides of the site do gradually open up to a small, terraced lawn on the lake side of the house. This is consistent with the house’s architecture, which likewise opens up gradually but dramatically towards the lake. With time, landscape and house will become one.
Plants at the front and sides of the house will be primarily native species, but will also include some of the more mature broad leafed evergreens that surrounded the original house, which have been transplanted along the northern property line. Featured plants include sweet fern, fothergilla, witch hazel, clethra, bayberry, and gooseberry, as well as birch and ash trees.
All of the granite paving slabs have been carefully placed throughout the site; you might recall from our July 29th post that all of this masonry was salvaged from an IKEA construction site in Somerville, highlighting our (not only Matthew and Ruhl Walker, but also the homeowners) passionate interest in sustainable design. Next week’s tasks will include the hydro-seeding of the lake-side lawn, installation of the porous asphalt driveway in the front, and moss-tucking in all the granite slab joints. Hay bales and silt fencing will be able to be removed in late September, so keep coming back for updates!
 The landscaping at the front of the house will become verdant woodland over time. |  Single and clump birch trees are interspersed with the sweet fern, bayberry, and clethra groundcover. |
 The street address is composed of stainless steel letters floating on a granite pier, a modern take on a classic New England tradition. |  Granite slabs salvaged from an IKEA construction site step down from the existing sidewalk and lead to the main entrance of the house. |
 Granite slabs continue to step around the house and lead ultimately to the terraced lawn on the lake side of the house. Moss will be tucked in between the stone slabs. |  Steps lead down from a roof deck off of the living / dining room to a peastone terrace, then to a terraced play lawn, and finally to granite steps that lead down to the lake. |
 Granite slabs and peastone steps lead down and around the sides of the house to a peastone terrace and the lake-side lawn. |  Granite slabs become integral with the house’s architecture. |
 Salvaged granite slabs have been inserted into the steeply sloping yard leading down to the lake. |  And next door, demolition has begun… |