The above picture is a current landscape design we’re working on. It’s a large property with a lot going on. This plan from the engineer shows the current structure, the existing driveway and a suggested new driveway location. The property is beautiful. 22 acres of meadow, a lot of beautiful, mature trees and western views. The problem is there wasn’t much thought in the way the property was developed. The existing pool and back of the house face east which puts the pool and entertainment spaces in shade all afternoon. The front door, garage and driveway are all on the western (view) side of the house.
When I first met the homeowner, the plan was to flip the entire interior of the house and relocate the driveway. I was never a fan of the house aesthetics and it seemed like an awful lot of work. From an environmental standpoint, I did like the thought of creating less construction waste but from a monetary standpoint, it didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense to me. I didn’t ask but possibly the new homeowner was in love with the house exterior. Fast forward to the next meeting and the builder talked the homeowner into leveling the house and pool. This would allow us to orientate the house to take advantage of the sun for both the house and pool.
We were hired to do a master plan for the property which we are currently working on. The first step was to figure out a new entrance into the property. The first image above shows the engineers attempt at creating a new entrance. It wasn’t too exciting and didn’t take into consideration trying to minimize all the ways a car could enter the property. We gave the owner two different driveway options (below). These concept designs eliminate an additional entrance by incorporating the house and guest house, creates more interest in the driveway design and lastly, each concept doesn’t drive people past the 3 garage doors before delivering visitors to the parking court.
