VILLEGGIATURA SITE
Queen Anne Hill, Seattle

A steep hillside above the urban fray, with magnificent views of Elliott Bay, Puget Sound, and the Olympic Mountains, this site is similar in spirit and sense of place to the opportunities presented to architects in Tuscany during the Baroque and Mannerist periods. Almost all of these house-garden-site combinations feature strong axes, shady promenades, sunny terraces, distant views, integration of house(s) and garden(s), water features, clipped hedges, sculpture, and native woodlands.

In this case, two master plans were prepared for this site. The first employed the spatial concepts of fifteenth century Italy with the materials and technologies of late twentieth century northwestern America. A series of terrace-stairway modules provide carefully zoned outdoor living areas while stabilizing the slope and providing a manageable and aesthetic experience while climbing the forty vertical feet from the street to the front door.

Subsequent concerns about the longevity of the clay blockhouse, built in 1904, and the desire of the owner to travel more, produced a much leaner master plan while maintaining the spatial variety, view enhancement and indoor-outdoor connections of the previous scheme. Two dozen flowering cherry trees were planted on the hillside, screening the indoor and outdoor living areas from the houses below and providing shade and intimacy on a previously hot and exposed slope.

The revised garden was constructed of simple, cost-effective modular materials: galvanized bridge grating, pre-cast pavers, pressure-treated timbers, and stucco-coated concrete block. Plant materials were selected to move in the frequent winds and provide seasonal variation in color and texture.