McLean
LOCATION
Chicago IL
DESCRIPTION
Single-family residence
SIZE
76′ x 100′
COMPLETED
2009
SERVICES
Landscape Design, Landscape Architecture,
Horticulture, Construction
MISSION
Unite the urban landscape with the home’s serene, architectural geometry.
VISION
Achieve a modern sense of tranquility with simplicity and restraint, focusing on light, transparency and reflection.
Carefully placed birch trees act as a forest providing privacy at one end of the garden.
Naturally weathering materials—a Cor-Ten steel garden wall, a monumental bench constructed of black locust wood, and perimeter concrete walls—add powerful earth tones to a spare and controlled palette.
The intentional whites of birch trunks, flowering magnolias, boulders, limestone paving and fractured gravel walkways contrast the crisp, green lawn and echo the home’s dominant hue, emphasizing light and space.
