Stoneridge Residence

Rugged Yet Refined

Limestone, stucco, cedar and other Hill Country materials give warmth and texture to the modern forms and sleek detailing that characterize this luxurious estate. In the landscape, cut stone paving abuts crushed gravel, manicured lawn meets mixed beds exploding with native blossoms, and the grand swimming pool with overlooks a xeric native prairie. These contrasting elements balance the refined with the rugged to create a warm, welcoming living environment.

Outdoor Rooms

A variety of outdoor rooms complement adjacent interior spaces in both program and character. For instance, the indoor living room opens onto a covered outdoor lounge on the pool terrace, while the family room opens onto a lawn for play. Similarly, the home gyms spills out onto an open terrace for yoga and other activities. The primary bedroom, a place of rest, is flanked by calming Zen-inspired gravel gardens that are to be viewed and inhabited. In the far reaches of the yard, sprawling live oaks and native grasses are protected for habitat and impart a sense of place to this new residence.

Woodland Estate

Austin, Texas

Multigenerational

The Client for this residential landscape renovation project had been living on their wooded five-acre property for years prior to rebuilding their home. Although they initially hoped to renovate their home, the accessibility needs of their growing family and elderly parents required a complete new build. In the process of reimagining the architecture, they began to envision how the landscape could be transformed to better suit their needs. The landscape proposes no-step transitions between the new house, play lawn and swimming pool, and activates the greater site for the enjoyment of all ages.

‘Tex-ified’ English Garden

Although the Client loves their Texas woodland, they also crave order, color, texture, and plant diversity. The proposed design balances these two interests be creating a ‘Texa-fied’ English garden–replete with play follies and meandering paths–set within a Hill Country woodland. Working in tandem with proposed paths and existing trees, the planting design choreographs a hide-and-reveal arrival experience that builds in drama with proximity to the new home.  The landscape has the structure of an English Garden, but with planting that celebrates the ecology of the Texas Hill Country. The resulting planting design provides drama, ornament, and order, while bolstering habitat for birds, pollinators, plants, and other urban wildlife.

Transformational

This project is a story of transformation in which order is inscribed on a once underused woodland to support the Client’s programmatic goals. At the same time, it preserves more than 2000 caliper inches of trees and provides 87% pervious cover. Altogether, the project embodies a spirit of stewardship while also providing its residents with a breadth of opportunities for solitude, togetherness, exploration, play, and connection with nature.

Spanish Oaks

Bee Cave, Texas

Timelessness

The client vision for this 5-acre contemporary estate is a marriage between the Texas Hill Country and the terraced terrain of Valencia, Spain. The landscape program set the stage for a legacy project, establishing native plant communities and framing panoramic views.

Harmony & Place

The estate residence, set upon a knoll with commanding views from all sides, celebrates the site’s natural topography. A series of planted terraces define the formal approach and allow visitors to negotiate this topography while also creating anticipation and drama as one ascends to the residence’s summit.

The southern terraces are sunny and ideal for pool, play, and relaxation. Ornamental gardens, swimming, bocce, outdoor games and sport courts take their place in a sequence that ultimately leads to the outer untouched landscape. Rugged trees are highlighted for their natural beauty and are complemented with scaled plantings that create distinct garden moments that help with spatial and programmatic transitions.

Natural Beauty & Water Consciousness

Native plantings are key to the success of this landscape, as water conservation is paramount. Native lawn adds clarity to the landscape and will require little water to establish; it will also be kept shaggy, limiting the noise of mowers and the frequency of standard maintenance. Live oak and Texas persimmon mottes are celebrated as landmarks that are complemented with select perennials and accents. Tended gardens are limited to areas around the house, where roses, herbs, and sages may be enjoyed for fragrance, color, and bouquets. 

The landscape is conceptualized as two interconnected parts, the “inner” cultivated landscape and “outer” naturalized landscape. This framework allows residents to inhabit their immediate environment while enjoying views of healthy, undisturbed Hill Country habitat beyond. 

Stoneridge Master Plan

Austin, Texas

Harmonious Yet Distinct

This masterplanned neighborhood is comprised of five luxury homes, each on a lot of at least one-acre, nestled within the Oak-Juniper woodlands of West Austin. This collection of homes share a sleek, modern aesthetic, yet no two are alike. Linear geometries and formal plantings characterize the landscapes immediate to each home, but manifest in unique ways both materially and experientially. Similarly, each home and garden engages their site’s sprawling existing Live Oaks and terrain in unique yet complementary ways. One certainly feels an understated sophistication and an inside outside connection in both common areas and in private gardens.

Juxtaposition

Swaths of native Hill Country perimeter planting offset the manicured gardens surrounding each home, and this contrast highlights the beauty of each. At Stoneridge, mown lawns and swimming pools meet wildflowers and woodlands; residents meet native birds and pollinators; and urban elegance meets the quietude of the countryside.

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