Woody Creek Garden

Pitkin County, Colorado

Honor Award in Residential Design - National ASLA

Two courtyards interlink this residence allowing each room to enjoy the visual landscape. The garden is built as a functioning green roof over a portion of the residence, leaving the steeply sloping site undisturbed. Water, in its most universal form-giving quality, is the unifying element of Woody Creek Garden. Atmospheric mist, single rivulets, cascades, and still pools portray water in its various states and forms.

A walled entry garden in a pinwheel arrangement of granite slabs on the horizontal plane is contrasted by naturalized groups of quaking aspens acting as vertical punctuation. The second garden, in comparison, is an expansive, promontory entertainment space. The design program anticipated large gatherings of the owners' friends. A separate, geometric pool of shallow water is located in the center of the courtyard. From the promontory above, this plane provides a mirror to the dramatic ever changing sky.

"A stunning example of how the landscape can complement the architecture without being a slave to it. The colors, distinctive detailing, and striking stonework are beautifully appropriate to the site," noted the National ASLA Awards Jury.