DENVER SHOWHOUSE

Client: Private For Residential
Location: Morgan Historic District, Denver, Colorado
Project Status: Completed Summer 2013

Located in the Morgan’s Historic District in Denver, Colorado, this garden represents and emphasizes the elegance of early 1900’s residential architecture. The goal was to blend the garden with the existing architecture to appear as though they were built in conjunction by a single artistic mind, during the 1900’s, while still managing to accommodate the lifestyle of the client who entertains frequently.

A traditional garden scheme was implemented to integrate outdoor living, vistas, and gatherings spaces. Carefully selected paving, coping and retaining wall materials echoes the architectural façade producing a seamless connection between a newly designed outdoor space and existing architecture. The intent was to create spaces for the family to gather, a swimming pool designed as an architectural feature as well as a dynamic water feature, an outdoor cooking area, and a fire pit for a perfectly complete evening outdoors.

The primary obstacle that the landscape architects faced during this project was the time constraint. The site was at a show house for a charity event organized to help a local Children’s Hospital, and the landscape architects were given only three months to design and execute the landscape. It was required that the construction reached completion by the date of the opening party for the charity event, as the garden would serve as the main gathering space for guests.

This project exemplifies the ways in which a garden is capable of showcasing the architecture of a built structure. After walking the garden and seeing how the house is celebrated through design, the public is made aware of how a well-designed outdoor space can improve their domestic lifestyle as well as increase the value of their property.

This project was the recipient of the 2013 Newman Awards from the Institute of Classical Architecture and Arts, as well as the 2013 ASLA Colorado Chapter Residential Honor Award.