Since 2005 we have been working and posting on this project. Once it was completed, our clients announced they were not interested in publishing on magazines and expressed big concern about their privacy. The gardens we designed and the farmhouse (refurbished by Vudafieri Saverino Partners) host numerous artworks from the collection of the owners, so we were asked to maintain our absolute discretion.
We understood and even learned to appreciate this attitude… In the end it dismissed us from those usual efforts to document and photograph properly our work.
Later we realized that a project – to a certain extent – always belongs to the designer and decided that, as long as we wouldn’t have crossed ‘that boundary’, we could still be free to disclose our work. So we made an attempt…

1. Rammed earth

Taking inspiration from the nearby mountain pathways we used rammed earth to pave two long stripes that provide occasional access to cars and tractors around the house.

2. Larch wood

The main access to the house is a small area paved with larch wood bricks of standard size laid directly on the soil according to a simple geometrical pattern.

Larch wood planks were used for this small deck connected with the kitchen of the guest house.

To retain the slightly sloping terrain with steps and to define edges between different areas we used thicker larch wood planks and wooden pegs.

3. Resin-bound gravel

The road that leads from the entrance to the underground garage was paved with a layer of resin-bound gravel adapt to endure the cold winters of the area.

4. Porphyry stones

An area adjacent to the house and the garage has been conceived as a small piazza and paved with local porphyry stones laid according to the tradition by expert hands.

5. Reinforced soil

We borrowed this system of reinforcing the soil on the sloping edges of highways and railways to mould the terrain and define a small living area near the house.

6. Weathering steel

Numerous elements like kerbs, steps, poles and profiles have been realized in weathering steel to match the color and the feel of other natural materials.

The main gate to the property has been designed as a solid and massive element that provides privacy and embeds the entry phone, the counter and the gas meters.

7. Steel wire mesh

To blend into the surrounding landscape of apple tree rows, the boundary fences of the property have been realized in steel wire mesh and concrete poles.

Few vegetable gardens have been inserted into the terrain and enclosed, according to the local tradition, with rusted hexagonal wire mesh and T profile vertical elements.

A Lace Fence Pergola has been designed by Joep Verhoeven from  Demakersvan, built in Bangalore, transported on site and previously described here.

8. Exposed concrete

To host an artwork by Danish artist Jeppe Hein we have built a concrete pavillion with a concrete door that provides access to a supporting engine room.

9. Chestnut wood

Together with the wise local peasant we designed a chestnut wood Pergola to support a beautiful old vine that survived the site works and flanks the main entrance to the house.

When the Pergola was completed, the eperienced team could undertake the challenge to design Green Monsters…

Previous posts about this project:

Gardens between apple trees

Gardens between apple trees – 2

Gardens between apple trees – 3

How to ‘build’ Green Monsters