At the Heath

The pergola at London's Heath hemorrhages the design brain. The rough-hewn materials are a lovely departure from the vaguely gauche whitewashed Walpole standards stateside. It's silvered patina, the wayang kulit-like shadow play spawn from the intricate lacework of overhead beams and task plantings of wisteria.... burgeons a spree of landscape inspiration.

A Freize in Florida

Personally, I loathe Greek Revival Architecture.  Colonnades, Doric/Ionic orders and marble statuary have no business beyond the Acropolis.  However, if I squint to flush out the suggestion of toga parties, feta and caryatids .... John Volk's architectural approach intrigues me.  His designs are proportioned and of interest, the Richard Meier color palette is functional for his Palm Beach clientele and his hand brings with it, a wonderful depth to the landscape. 

High and Tight

Heatherwick's Seed Cathedral at the Shanghai Expo was architecturally unreal. Poised to school visitors eager to learn of the Royal Botanical Garden Millennium Seedbank, the structure was sown with 60,000 transparent optical plugs. Each plug then had a seed planted at it's root tip. From the interior, light filters through this punctuated seed library and from the exterior, there's a rolling landscape brush cut for passive recreation.

To All The Girls I've Loved Before

It is a crime that I have not showcased my affinity for Martha Schwartz until now. She greased my slide from Architecture to Landscape Architecture with her ersatz take on design. Schwartz first gained exposure when she engineered a formal garden using carbed-out bagels and purple, aquarium gravel in Boston's Back Bay. Eventually, she would be commissioned to design an installation to replace Richard Serra's controversial Tilted Arc in Manhattan's Federal Plaza. Her ability to think beyond the box and still nail the target is fantastic.

Park

Allow "Park" to assume multiple meanings.

Design Intervention

Design inspiration for a Muskoka wooded outdoor seating area by the master, Andy Goldsworthy.

Elizabeth Street Gallery

The Elizabeth Street Gallery carries a fabulously flush collection of garden ornament. Tucked within Lower Manhattan's quintessential aisle's of gritty style, it breaks up the rigamortise of building stock as it lazes on an expansive, grassed lot. Lit with an eclectic mess of garden intrigue, I love how it denies commercial redundancy from the invasive stockists of Restoration Hardware. Simmer your Netflix calendar and stall out within it's gates- you may just find your garden-inspired chupacabra.