Shadowrock
- Award Year: 2021
- Award Category: Residential Design
- Award Designation: Merit Award
- Client: N/A
- Location: Pitkin County, Colorado
A new vision reimagines an existing garden into one emblematic of its natural setting. Initial conversations with the owner revealed an appreciation for naturally occurring mountain lakes – features suspended within boulder outcroppings, often possessing beauty through unexpected and irregular forms.
Naturalized landscapes often require designers to work with non-standardized media – a daunting “trial-and-error” process that is time intensive, technically challenging, and costly to owners. To overcome such challenges, a new process began with capturing photogrammetry of 55 boulders.
A proprietary program stitched together the images to generate 3D models. The Landscape Architect then placed the individual boulders with intentional orientation onto a base model to facilitate discussion of construction sequencing, boulder stabilization and owner understanding of design intent.
Constrained on all sides by a small cabin, steep terrain, and existing home (not shown in foreground), the intimate garden is 3,700 square feet in size. Defined by two serpentine edges, the pool cohesively stitches together the garden’s individual spaces.
The garden acknowledges and successfully bridges the home’s traditional architecture, the rustic log vernacular of the cabin, and the primal forest through a deliberate and authentic alpine vernacular.
The garden interprets the story of the surrounding natural landscape – rockfall, snowmelt streams, fluctuating water levels and pools – through a series of detailed and authentic portraits.
Prior to modeling, early construction estimates varied as much as 200% in subcontractor fabrication costs due to differing interpretation. To reduce uncertainty, a hierarchy of customization levels was established. Identification numbers expedited sequencing, alleviating the site’s limited storage capacity.
Procured from a nearby quarry, granite boulders and loose talus cascade and dip beneath the water’s surface, guiding the movement of falling water, creating intimate coves and submerged ledges, and punctuating the water’s glassy plane to provide swimmers with a diversity of experiences.
The forms, colors, and textures of monolithic outcroppings are masterfully reflected from various vantage points in the garden. Identifying locations of point loads before construction commenced meant that engineering requirements could be localized to specific locations thus reducing overall costs.
Each 3D printed boulder served as a sculptural maquette for exploration, allowing the raw landscape material to be transformed into site-specific sculptural objects, pistol cut, and installed true to the original design vision.
A rich and colorful planting palette comprised of nearly twenty perennial and groundcover species flourishes in the microclimates created by the cracks, crevices, and stone ledges of the boulder garden.
To strengthen the garden’s relationship to the existing log cabin and pool, the Landscape Architect transformed an underutilized patio into a dock that functions as a sheltered respite, a diving platform, and a below grade mechanical system.
As the first known residential landscape architecture project to scan, print, and physically model non-standard construction materials, the project demonstrates fiscal value and excellence through design innovation, construction methodologies, and client expectations.