Residential
Prairie Retreat
ILCA Award – Residential Construction Gold Award
The influences for this landscape design most certainly come from the prairie. The owners previously restored and lived in a prairie style home before building this current home and are passionate about the Illinois native prairie landscape. Their love for the prairie style brought them to architects Fay Jones and Maurice Jennings. Fay Jones was one of the last architects trained by Frank Lloyd Wright, whose influence is reflected in the details and spatial relationships throughout this home. The landscape architects’ approach for this 10 acre homestead was to embrace the site, to understand the family members and their lifestyle, and to create a living environment that used natural materials and native plantings in a dramatic way. The site couldn’t have been more appropriate for this design style: the existing terrain offered a babbling brook running through an oak savanna that transitioned to open rolling fields.
The landscape architects’ first challenge occurred at the beginning of the landscape design process. They stepped in to act as a mediator between the architect and client, who had differing opinions as to what should happen around the home. The architect wanted no “landscaping” around the home. The client had specific family needs in mind. Fostering a spirit of collaboration among all parties, the landscape architects helped to shape many of the landscape concepts around the home. Melding the architect’s desire for natural looking landscape surrounding the home and the clients’ desires for more stylized, functional garden rooms was accomplished by carefully planning views on the site. Planned views to and from the residence take advantage of the restored woodlands and meadow while the more stylized garden rooms are nestled into the terrain and are screened from the residence.
Plantings were kept in very low simple broad sweeps to accentuate the architecture; vertical accents were used sparingly to break up the strong horizontality of the home. Trees were planted in groves to direct views to the home and from the home to the surrounding woodlands and meadow. The flowering meadows are shaped to give a visual rhythm and create a sense of flow from the house into the woodland border. This short prairie or flowering meadow was established over five seasons of seeding, mowing, and diligent care. The meadow is an integral element in the overall design, providing great textural contrast to the manicured lawn as well as a harmonious transition to the woodland border. The manicured lawn area was kept to a minimum to lessen the environmental and contextual impact. The meadow gives the site dramatic seasonal changes. Walking paths are mown through the meadow to invite people to experience the sites and sounds of a prairie on a personal level.
The plant palette has its roots in the northern Illinois oak savanna; not all plants could be called true natives, but all are native looking. Plants were chosen to accent the architecture, blend in and enhance the woods, and survive continual deer pressure. The predominant woody plant species are Hawthorn, Sumac, and Oak. The herbaceous plants are a broad mix of plants chosen for their texture, color, and distastefulness to the neighborhood deer population. The entire plant palette took several seasons of trial and error to perfect.
Fall at the residence is a stunning time, when the restored indigenous landscape really seems to come alive and give the site a warm soft glow all through the autumn season. Spring is heralded by thousands of daffodils that were planted in the meadow edges and short grasses.
Summer is enjoyed by the poolside. Nine feet of the hillside was carved away to nestle the pool into the surrounding topography .The grade change necessitated terraced limestone outcroppings, which were selected by the landscape architect. The goal of planting at the new pool area was to screen it from the house while providing a visual connection to the surrounding landscape. Plantings at the pool are allowed to grow over and in between the limestone outcrops to transition the hardscape into the landscape. The pool area itself has a water fall under which one can swim, a hot tub, an outdoor kitchen, and a fire pit. Numerous containers planted with lush annual flowers finish off the look and provide a vibrant display of hot colors, a favorite of the owners. This is truly a great place to entertain. The meadow was brought right up to the edge of the pool deck to anchor the pool area to the surrounding landscape.
The site also features special garden rooms including a cutting garden, a children’s vegetable garden and a secret garden that is viewed from a glass enclosed shower. Also, a stone bridge was developed along the entry road to take advantage of views to the brook and woodland.
The walking trails through the woods and prairie were developed with careful thought to the hiker’s experience, offering clearings, views to the stream, and informal allees of quaking aspen along the way. These were done in a way that the visitor would not realize these experiences had been planned, but would feel instead that the visitor had just happened upon the landscape.
