Landscape Architect Articles

LASN Landscape of the Month August, 198808-01-88 | News

Landscape of the Month

The Regent, Tour d’Elegance, Blackhawk, California

Night or day, this McNair-Ripley design shows the elegance and grandeur of The Regent

Landscape Architect:
McNairRipley Associates

Builder:
Renown Enterprises, Inc.

Architect:
B. Holloway Designs

Landscape Contractor
Golden State Landscapes

Interiors:
Rubey Interiors

The Regent is one of nine, million dollar showcase homes, part of the Tour d’Elegance, which was a public exhibition for charity in Blackhawk, an exclusive residential community inNorthern California.

The Regent provided an unusual opportunity for design teams. Composed of a Landscape
Architect, architect and interior designer, this team worked closely together with the client from the initial architectural concept through construction. From that point a year-long undertaking evolved into an award-winning project.

The design concept was to provide a variety of outdoor spaces for entertaining large groups or intimate gatherings That would flow from the interior to the exterior surroundings while maintaining the appearance of a natural extension of the architecture.

The outdoor palette, including the plant composition, exterior tiles and paving materials, were carefully selected to harmonize and compliment the colors of the interior. Even the gray pool bottom, accented with brick coping and burgundy pool tiles, compliment the interior hues.

In the front of the house, low garden walls were developed, as extensions of the building, and planted with specimen Brazilian Pepper trees and white azaleas to provide a “view” garden from the living room and den. Also a garden wall was designed to enclose the patio extension of the master bedroom suite.

Fountains, swimming pool and spa were integrated early on in the design scheme. At the front entry, a tiered fountain with water cascading over brick weirs was designed to infuse immediate drama and a sense of elegance to welcome visitors. Travertine marble was used in the front entry and continues through the home to the rear, terminating at the pool deck. There, the swimming pool becomes visual and physical focal point of the rear yard.

The pool was therefore designed oversized as to accommodate the scale of the surrounding architecture. Cascading “brick step” water falls provide the fascination of rushing and falling water. The steps continue in an unbroken line from the waterfall to the pool deck, creating an integrated transition to an elevated patio that is enclosed with a contemporary wood overhead trellis. A sunken outdoor food preparation area complete with built-in gas bar-b-que, sink and disposal, further enhances the entertainment facilities.

The complexity of thehardscape design lengthened the construction time to four months. The majority of the time involved masonry construction for the brick and stone veneer walls and brick paving. Six different types of brick were used, necessitated by the need for three different brick caps on the walls and several brick paving patterns.

A landscape is in the dark as often as it's in the light.

Continuity was established in the paving design with a continuous double 12-inch brick band. Cut sandstone was used for the garden walls to reflect the stone facade of the house.

Because the house would be used extensively for evening entertainment and showings, landscape lighting was an extremely important element of the design. Consultants at Nightscaping low-voltage lighting, worked closely with the project designer, Jim Ripley, to achieve different levels of lighting. Lighting areas were individually zoned at eight different stations to enable the owner to change the lighting and accommodate the different functions anticipated and to highlight key elements, water features, specimen trees and use areas. The final adjustments were made by Ripley in full evening attire during a cocktail party being held the evening of the final judging!

The Regent is a fine example of bringing the light into the night.

The overall effect created a nighttime spectacular with illuminated water jets shooting high into the air, backdropped by soft landscape lighting.

Congratulations to McNair-Ripley and Associates and the other design team members for this outstanding example of innovative design.

The Landscape of the Month is produced by LASN and sponsored by Nightscaping, who donates $50.00 to the Landscape Architectural Foundation (LAF) for each feature. Please contact LASN editorial staff before submitting material for consideration.