Photography by Matt Vacca.
The winner of the 2017 Gardenista Considered Design Awards Best Hardscape project is Boxhill Design for their Desert Geometry project in Tucson, Arizona.
“With a pool, patio, tiered walls, and a fire pit, there’s more hardscape than planting space in this contemporary backyard, yet the man-made elements work in synergy with the natural desert slope, adding to rather than distracting from the site’s natural beauty.”
“In this contemporary design, beams radiating from a built-in fireplace support a corrugated metal roof. The color palette is kept muted, celebrating the subtle texture of the building materials—the brushed surface of raw concrete, dull metal of the roof, and pattern of the flooring.”
A: Working with a sloped, south-facing lot overlooking the Tucson skyline, we wanted to make the most of the view and create useable spaces for outdoor living.
“A second shot of the shaded area shows how cafe lights and the glow of the fire transform the area from cooling in the daytime, to warm and inviting past sundown.” Q: What are your favorite features of the project?
“Other areas of the garden rely on clean lines of hardscape and large-scale cacti as structural, living art.” A: For any climate—but especially the desert—make note of the path of the sun while you’re mapping out your design.
For this site, we had to be very conscious of where shade was needed based on where our clients might like to hang out at any point in the day.
“The exterior walls of the garden mimic the natural grade change of the hillside, descending in gradual tiers as the slope drops beneath. The walls also form the backdrop for mature trees—celebrating their stature and rooting the landscape in the land.”
A: It’s tough to find outdoor furniture and living products that look contemporary and hold up to being outside year-round, particularly in our desert climate.
“A second fire pit creates an inviting evening destination across the yard. The garden wall was designed with a lowered notch for taking in views of the city skyline.” A: I pull from the client, the natural contours and features of the site, and the architecture of the house.