Carpenter's House Landscape

Concept Sketching, Landscape Design, Site Planning, Visualization

When Jon Cummings Architecture approached me to craft some visualizations and propose a schematic landscape plan for their Carpenter’s House project, I was excited to help out. The home is a private client’s self-build project and while the architecture had already been designed, the landscape was still an empty slate.

With precise lines, local, natural materials and a beautiful rural setting, the architecture inspired a palette of colorful, aesthetic contrast within the landscape surrounding. With attention to site drainage, water collection, self-sufficient food production, home compost and pollinator meadows, this rural landscape is a showcase of how strategic site design and planting can contribute to mitigation, adaptation and resilience on a residential scale.

To assist the homeowner in the future development of the site, a landscape guide was crafted to support the selection, planting & maintenance of each distinct landscape area. From drought-tolerant & heat-resistant planting in the sunny driveway to the shade-tolerant and moisture loving species in the lower backyard, every area was carefully designed according to its microclimatic conditions and in anticipation of future climate extremes.

Client: Jon Cummings Architecture & Private Client
Role: Site Planning, Landscape Design, Visualization
Location: Ferguson Falls, Ontario
Year: 2022

Rural Context

Landscape Guide

The guide contains notes on planting, links to maintenance instructions and direction on species that will thrive in each landscape zone.

Landscape Plan Sketches & Studies

To determine which parts of the site were most suitable for planting, I did shadow studies and rainwater collection studies based on the site grading.

Landscape Layout Plan

To help with natural infiltration 3 infiltration rain gardens were proposed, along with suggestions to add gutters and rain-storage units on the exterior of the house to assist with collection and harvesting of rain.

A front border of early-flowering redbuds and rear planting of white spruce (a species that already thrives on site) along with a horse chestnut specimen tree, fruit trees and beautiful serviceberries help to increase biodiversity and contribute to successional bloom over the season.

Planting Zone Plan

Each landscape zone was color-coded within the planting guide.

Planting Guide & Backyard Summer View

The planting guide outlines each landscape zone in detail, with suggestions for native planting & maintenance notes as well as visualizations of how each zone could look in bloom.

Planting Guide Details

Late Summer Backyard Garden

The backyard garden is a mixture of low, no-dig planters, in-ground crop plantings, companion sunflowers, a glasshouse for seed-starting and propagation, and a backyard compost system.

Interior View & Rainwater Chains

The interior of the home is composed of warm wood tones with built-in furnishings. One of the features that came to be added after I did my site assessment was exterior metal drainage channels along the roof edge, expressed at the corners with rain-chains and water containers. These containers can overflow into nearby infiltration zones.

Late Summer Porch View

One of the features of the house is its enclosed back porch, which captures the evening sun and overlooks the perennial beds, lawn and garden beds.

Illustrated Planting Plan

The plan shows the house and garden in context, and proves that even on a relatively small rural site homeowners can maximize their space to produce food, intelligently use water and contribute to biodiversity.