A fantastic new contemporary home and environmentally savvy landscape stand proudly on the edge of a carefully restored waterfront on Lower Mystic Lake in Arlington, Massachusetts. Wonderful slabs of reclaimed granite curbing hand picked by the landscape architect and the clients are adaptively re-used to create an inviting and fresh new front walkway. The same materials are used to construct an elegant stone and lawn staircase that glides from the house to the water on the steeply sloped back yard. Hardscape areas utilize porous paving and water is allowed to return to the local watershed—in the front with permeable asphalt, and in the back with compacted peastone on top of a gravel base. Colonies of drought-tolerant native trees, shrubs, and groundcovers that are found in the local ecology communities surrounding the Lake quickly take hold without the help of a conventional or permanent irrigation system, and the low-maintenance property absolutely erupts with color each autumn.

Collaborators: Ruhl Walker Architects, Berkshire Wilton Partners, Martin Lucyk Landscape Construction, Shadows and Light, Olde New England Granite, Select Horticulture, Artemesia Perennial Supply