THE ENTRY ATRIUM AND ITS SURROUND

This garden was the second home we had worked on with these clients and this building site was within a village courtyard environment. This courtyard home design was a complete change from their larger residential estate that was located directly on the ocean, with expansive views and considerably more land than the site we were now working with.

Any garden style selected must be suitable to thrive in and appear natural within the local environment and because the residence was composed of interior rooms looking out into enclosed courtyards, the finished gardens must present their ‘best face’ at all times, to the residents and their frequent guests.

The walled in nature of these inner village sites also required us to conceive of courtyard home design solutions that would soften those walls without adding to a sense of confinement that often results for walled enclosures. Those needs suggested that we use large tropical leaves and dramatically contrasting vegetative textures.

The occasional flower blooms would be large and have bold colors. The resulting tropical atmosphere feels natural to the area and the plantings are easy to maintain without continual routine trimming.

The village this residence is situated in is a strollers paradise. Friends and neighbors walking the narrow streets are only a few steps from leaving the public venue and stepping through entry doors and gateways into unique private worlds created by the residents.

Few are the visitors that enter this tropical sanctuary and then exit from it without absorbing the impression that they have been in a garden that is out of the ordinary and created with an appropriate sense of place.  This classical island style home is situated within a restricted gated community with a very unique land planning style. Except for a relatively small segment of residential lots in this village, there are no expansive lawns dominating the overall landscape.  Most of the houses are zero set-back property lines with neighboring house walls forming the exterior edge of many property lines. The net effect is having a significant if not predominant courtyard home environment.

The spectacular architectural style of this residence was conceived with the tropics in mind and the landscape architecture not only adhered to that design objective but set out to create a jungle environment that was also quite refined as it needed to be, due to the restricted space afforded.

The clients had been living in their oceanfront home for several years before relocating to this unique village, so this was a dramatic but exciting change of pace for them. The husband is a businessman fully active in managing his affairs and the wife was a professional interior designer who had also made her mark in designing clothing as well as being an author of children’s books. They both were well aware of how they wanted to see the house and it’s gardens evolve.

As they were both collectors and admirers of fine art and the fact that Henri Rousseau was a favored classical artist, it was quickly determined that the French Post-Impressionist art form that Rousseau demonstrated in his work would be the guide that would be used for creating their gardens.

Original Painting by John Holmes

The tropical contrasting plant foliage often accompanied by large dramatic jungle forest blooms seen in Rousseau’s would work well in these confined spaces. The resulting landscape imagery seemed to hint to the viewer that there was a lot more depth to the courtyard gardens than was in reality the case.

Also, this large two story structure is actually one room wide in most of the home and this gives the impression that the  building had been placed in the middle of the landscape, as the landscape was seen on both sides of the room and thereby created an ambiance with a unique twist.

As spectacular as the building’s architecture is, the resulting landscape is quite often the sole reason for many people that want to tour the home, but it is our belief that the landscape design works so well because the building architecture itself encouraged the ultimate landscape design and the resulting garden in turn fulfilled the intent of the building’s architecture. A truly symbiotic relationship, it would seem.

The attached photographs should speak for the garden details and the video tour following this article will provide additional detail for those who may want it.