LAkeside Landscape

Racine, Wisconsin
Completed 2017

We created a garden with a strong formal layout. In the summer, it is a multisensory experience. In the cold Wisconsin winters, it is a visual composition viewed from inside.

As a formal garden, this lakeside landscape is an abstract geometric composition with bold colors. It echoes the angles of the adjacent modern house and emulates the islands of the spring fed lake. The landscape restores a former grass lawn to a habitat for native wildlife and creates a place to observe birds, butterflies and bees. It is designed to be viewed from the living space above and experienced from ground level.

Locally quarried limestone is used five different ways: as boulders, slabs, pavers, gravel and riprap. Low-maintenance native plant species form fields of color and sit against the natural stone and brick pavers. A series of outdoor spaces allow for multiple ways to have direct experiences of the water. The flowering is seasonally staggered for maximum year-round visual impact.