Braidwood

A balance to their recently renovated and modernized 1950’s home, this terraced patio and garden is to be a space of gathering and wandering, with nodes of interest spread around the 1 acre property. The material palate is restrained and meant to age gracefully. The walls are a mix of polished and split-face white CMU. The split-face, positioned outward towards the garden to evoke an up-thrusting stone form. Facing inward the polished stone is meant as a juxtaposition to the texture of the landscape. Like a stone cut through and polished, the habitable space is carved from this telluric expression.

At the thresholds to the upper terrace, oversized stem walls give presence to and announce the entrance paths as they reach out welcomingly into the landscape. The terrace is separated into “rooms”, on the upper, a larger hosting space off of the living room and a more intimate covered dining space off of the kitchen. This cover is a suspended canopy of raw, brushed copper left to age as it wills. An elevated reflecting pool draws the eye through the landscape to the James River beyond, connecting the two bodies of water and bringing the James to the patio. At the pool’s center, a l cast iron sculpture is left to rust as water trickles over it surface. This piece  is a signifier of place, connecting not just to the river but to the history of our city.

The lower room of the terrace steps down from the hosting space, nestling itself into the garden, creating a sunken den. Sheltered by the landscape, this more private gathering space allows one to experience the scale of the trees and garden morefully. You begin to feel the landscape reaching back towards you, reminding one of its presence and welcoming you to wander
back into it and explore.