SITE AND LANDSCAPE

Stone garden

In our work we create buildings, landscapes, settings, environments. Our goal is to listen to the land, to understand the underlying patterns in the landforms, to recognize how our sites relate to the human and non-human communities around them, and to weld our buildings seamlessly to the landscape.

More than a decade ago we realized that the quality of our landscape design and construction was not up to the quality of our buildings - there was a disconnect. We weren't getting the kind of landscape design and construction assistance we needed. Old friend and early SMC owner Steve Sinnett had left SMC and started North Road Firewood. Soon landscape designer Sanford Evans teamed up with Steve, the company became Indigo Farm, and it evolved into a full service landscape design and construction company.

We thought there might be a good fit between SMC and Indigo and worked with them on several projects. Our sense of aesthetics and conservation was well matched and the results were rewarding. Finally we were getting the kind of complementary assistance we needed: we were thinking broadly, with a skilled site and landscape designer, about the use of our sites. We were taking radical, complex approaches to siting, and yet, when complete, they looked like there had been little intervention. Part of this is the extensive use of native plantings, a particular Indigo strength. In the end, the houses feel calm and settled in gentle, welcoming landscapes.

Cook / Kraus terrace drawing

Ever since, we've worked with Indigo from beginning to end of every project - from the initial conceptual siting to the last flowering plant. Indigo is "part of the deal" - comes with the SMC territory. Although never simple, it has been a remarkably rich relationship - together, the two companies have been able to stretch out and take on some extraordinary projects - some of the more ambitious are the Vagelos road, the Cook/Kraus ponds, and Island Cohousing.

One of the first projects together - Lorie and Richard Hamermesh's house at Meeting House Road in Chilmark - stands out as a prime example of what this collaboration can do. The Hamermesh property is directly adjacent to another site where we built a house for Keith and Honey Heller. The two sites shared an access. But when we looked at the siting for the Hamermesh house, it became clear that using that access would bring cars to the wrong place on the property, bring the glare of headlights into the house, and diminish the scale and privacy of both properties. Sanford saw that if we continued further down the existing road and created a new access up a steep hill we would enhance the site in several ways. To do so, however, would be complicated and expensive, and we doubted that our clients would approve the plan. But when we explained it, they understood it immediately and endorsed the concept. This radical departure led to a setting that sings and a dramatic improvement to both properties.

Steps up Both companies have grown and matured. The partnership continues. The results are worthy of our combined efforts.