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LONG BAY, ANGUILLA
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LONG BAY, ANGUILLA
This seaside villa complex on Anguilla is composed of 5 buildings, one to three stories: main house, office, guest quarters, terrace dining. Hand chiseled native lime rock was used for site walls and some building walls. Native cut limestone and imported Travertine were used for the exterior surfacing. The building mass is moderated by the pastel color paint palette which is coordinated with flower colors. The buildings, with views to the ocean, form a central protected courtyard garden space. This garden space is lush and tropical contrasting the serenity of the ocean. Mature palms, trees, cascading vines and a controlled palette of flower color help moderate the scale of the buildings and site walls. The planting density is high creating a detailed and personal appearance for each building with a feel that is informal yet elegant.
The Dunes
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The Dunes
This seaside villa at Christophe Harbour St Kitts, is positioned on Sandy Bank Bay. As a counterpoint to the ocean exposure, a protected central courtyard on the lee side is formed by the building mass and the allee tree plantings of the Bocce Court. The rectilinear form of the building and the narrow deep lot provided inspiration for a crisp garden layout of geometric shapes. Following the regulating lines of the Architecture, a long walkway from the arrival court bisects the greenspace of the front garden and continues, figuratively through the villa, to the walkway at the top of the dunes. This line provided a basis for the asymmetric design of the garden. The dimensions of the bocce court closely fit the space previously envisioned as the guest wing. The fanciful forms of the Gumbo Limbo tree trunks and branches contrast the lines of the Architecture.
Orchid House
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Orchid House
Inspired by Oliver Messel’s mid-century iconic Barbadian reimagined colonial period homes, this contemporary villa has a combination of coral stone walls and shuttered windows with column supported verandahs and terraces framed with coralstone balustrades. The setting for the villa is within a stand of mature Mahogany and Gum trees with Mt Nevis as a backdrop. The garden design is a lush composition of tropical forms and textures under the canopy of mature trees and new palms on the mountainside. The seaside counterpoint feature is the swimming pool and deck courtyard in dark charcoal tones creating a mirror reflection of the villa. Orchids grace the palm trunks and Desert Rose flowers spill from plant pots at this level. Below, a Bocce court, croquet lawn and guest bedroom in the form of a historic sugar mill are nestled in the informal garden with textured accents and bougainvillea color.
Cape Dutch
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Cape Dutch
The distinctive features of Cape Dutch Architecture on this 2 Ac property are the prominent ornately rounded gables, building symmetry, and white washed walls. Set within a forest clearing and deep blue sky with mountain and sea views, the villa and gardens have a commanding position. The design brief included: a pastoral setting for the villa; privacy from parking and the golf course; a connection to the island’s past; a theme of palms set within tropical perennial plantings; a color pallet of whites, pinks, lavenders and purples. Our design approach: create a spatial structure based on the Architectural layout which lead to the design of a series of interconnecting outdoor rooms of strong geometrical forms defined by tall vertical palm plantings. The ellipse was chosen as the form for the lawn spaces to complement the gable forms. Traditional garden elements such as a natural waterfall, rose garden and perennial borders create a balance between formality and tropical informality.
Chartreuse & Plum
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Chartreuse & Plum
This hillside villa garden at Four Seasons Resort Nevis is a “contemporary tropical’ design cascading from the entry courtyard through discrete garden spaces connected by steps and lawn panels to a bocce court at the lowest terrace space. Existing Loblolly and Gum trees provide a native context. Spatially, the garden is composed of the entry, swimming pool, dining pavilion terrace, lawn terraces, and bocce court terrace all of precise geometry. The compositional lush plantings are specific to each garden space adhering to an outdoor room concept. A serene reflective quality of the swimming pool is achieved by precisely detailing the finishes and edges including travertine steps, a tiled infinity edge, reverse gutter and perched dining pavilion.
THREE SPINDLES
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THREE SPINDLES
Three Spindles is a traditional Caribbean villa style with great room and verandahs centered on the pool, gardens and Caribbean sea. The pool deck environment is a garden with private spaces for dining and sunning formed by the plantings. This intimate area, with the shifting shade of tall palms is always pleasant. View corridors to the ocean are maintained through the informal gardens surrounding this area. The swimming pool, with charcoal finish, emerald tiles and curvilinear infinity edge is an abstract tidal pool. The precise curves of the infinity edge are pleasing to follow and project the pool into the garden.
Lan-y-Mor
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Lan-y-Mor
The Lan-y-Mor villa design was envisioned after a visit to Barcelona to study Gaudi’s graceful curved creations. The 180 degree view of Drakes Channel with islands, crescent bays and reefs allows one to be immersed in nature. The overall composition of the house and garden, set in a wooded hillside above a coral reef, is a series of curved forms. The curvilinear deck leads to a natural rock outcropping at the edge of a ravine. Within this boulder formation, we designed separate hot and cold dipping pools. From this vantage point one has an uninterrupted view to the sea as if floating over it. As the house occupies a steep yet terraced hillside, the existing trees were left in place. The white trunks of the Eugenia trees are illuminated in the sunlight against the large dark boulders interspersed in the forest. Colonies of native Tolumnia and Epidendrum orchids, Anthuriums, Peperomia and Leptocereus cactus are existing elements of the garden. Native bromeliads form a groundcover for the Coccothrinax palms and Picabbean palms. Cordyline, native Philodendrons, Heliconia, Gardenia, Cycads and Bromeliads create textured compositions.
Les Oiseaux
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Les Oiseaux
Les Oiseaux embodies our design philosophy: a clear and balanced dialogue between the interior living space, the garden and surrounding natural setting. There is a personal and sensitive interplay between house and garden as they draw their form and materials from the surroundings. The flat plane of turf, within the rolling hills, that holds the house and garden is a metaphor for the flat ocean and mountainous islands. The plant beds are angled like the surrounding mountain profiles. Isolated beds within the turf represent islands and the ocean. The geometric profiles in the mountains are represented in clipped pyramid topiaries. The garden composition is a layered abstraction of the natural world we experience and core memories, punctuated with fragrance, and compositions of form and texture. The large wavy leafed Coccoloba trees were transplanted in the garden for their fanciful form and to create shade and habitat for birds. Bromeliads, cycads, desert rose and crown of thorns were chosen to withstand the dry and windy conditions. Many plants are rare species from the Caribbean while others are chosen for Hummingbird nectar sources. Fragrance is provided with Brunfelsias, Gardenias and the epiphytic cactus Hylocereus. Native Orchids grace the trees.
Baraka Point Retreat
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Baraka Point Retreat
Baraka Point is a 2 Ac private retreat on Virgin Gorda positioned on a rock promontory jutting into the Sir Francis Drake Passage. The retreat is composed of four copper peaked pavilions with swimming pool, spa, dining terraces, and a seaside deck built within the boulders of the ocean edge. We created a secluded sanctuary on this exposed site while preserving the rustic character and distinct view corridors within its 280 degree exposure to the ocean. A serpentine pathway winding around existing Loblolly trees leads to the pavilions positioned to create a protected informal courtyard space. The planting design with accents of contrasting form and texture gives a nod to the eclectic nature of the interior design which combines elements from the owners travels in India, Indonesia and China . The planting structure is dominated by silver Bismarck palms and darker Foxtail, Ptychosperma and Roebelenii Palms. The silver Bismarcks, tangerine bromeliads, along with purple, pink and white flower colors activate the mahogany and copper colored buildings.
ONB
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ONB
Oil Nut Bay, Virgin Gorda BVI: We designed the Phase 1 landscape of this 20 ac Beach Resort including the Beach Club and Beach Front Villas. This remote area is accessible only by boat. The sensitive environmental nature of the project and the owner’s directive for LEED Platinum certification necessitated careful design and attention. The Beach Pavilion sits on top of a natural rock outcropping overlooking the feature pool and sandy beach peppered with coconut palms, caper and button wood trees preserved during the clearing process. The serpentine pathways allow a relaxed access to the built areas. The feature pool is an organic shape with sun shelves, beach entry and intimate nooks. The pool deck is composed of areas for sunning and private spaces with tree canopy. Native plantings of Spartina, Borrichia, Sophora, and Caper complement the Coconut palms, Bromeliads Bougainvillea plantings.
Reef House
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Reef House
On Virgin Gorda, BVI, this beach villa is nestled in the existing native trees canopy of Loblolly, Black Olive, Gumbo Limbo and Jamaican Caper trees. Native Coccothrinax palms augment the existing Coconut palm plantings. A native stone pathway meanders through the coastal forest to the main house and guest bedrooms. Two distinct planting zones exist, the protected zone of the tree canopy and the exposed zone facing the ocean. This duality, protection and exposure, is separated by the villa creating a strong narrative for the site. A site wall separating the main house and guest bedrooms directs ones view to a small offshore island creating a strong visual connection. The pool pergola follows the line of the hillside in the distance in a gesture to the natural landscape.
Aquamare
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Aquamare
This 5 star boutique retreat on the north coast of Virgin Gorda is positioned on a 4 acre site at the base of coastal hills . This beach front site is oriented to a vibrant reef and islands across the channel. The three, three story luxury villas fit naturally into the surrounding forested environment. The planting concept embraces the following design elements: allow the informal beach aesthetic to merge into the villas, provide seasonal flower color, scale to the buildings, screening from and to buildings and to preserve views to the ocean. We created specific plant palettes for exposed and protected zones and sun and shade areas to achieve the owners desired effect.
Cliffdwellers
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Cliffdwellers
Cliffdwellers is composed of both private villas on the seacliffs and 2 story townhouses on the coastal plane. The Architectural style is traditional Caribbean with views across the sea to St Kitts. The Townhouse layout forms a protected courtyard space where plantings create intimate areas around the freeform swimming pool. Along the pathways to the Townhouses, Carpentaria and Coccothrinax palms provide scale to the buildings while Ylang and Gardenia provide fragrance. Each seacliff villa ha sits own private garden.
Gallery
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Gallery