Luxury Landscape

A luxury landscape includes all things normally associated with an upscale home. Both organic and inorganic elements speak to an aesthetic sense of refinement, and functionality is geared toward creature comfort. Entertainment also plays a major role in luxury landscape design, because most clients who invest the large sums of money required for this high-end service are looking to share the experience with special guests and close family members.

Practically every luxury landscape has a custom swimming pool that has been specifically designed to support multiple aesthetic elements and scaled proportionally to its surroundings. The pool’s design should reflect the geometry and symmetry of custom home architecture, and it should also aesthetically compliment any other surrounding outdoor structures and seamlessly blend with organic elements that surround it.

Water fountains are iconic symbols of luxury and refinement. They add both dimension and décor to the landscape, and can be designed in any number of shapes and sizes. Larger estates typically have more than one water fountain on the property. There may be one a larger, central fountain located near a main gathering or seated area that acts as an illuminated centerpiece for nighttime events. Other, more private areas may have custom water fountains intended for the enjoyment of only the homeowner or a few very close friends. In most cases, smaller fountains are centerpieces for private sitting or morning gardens where homeowners relax and read the paper in the morning, and enjoy the sunlight streaming through the trees in the late evening when the sun goes down.

Many luxury landscapes prefer to replicate European garden forms to add organic symmetry and balance to the yard. The parterre garden is one of these forms, and it actually works better on a larger property than on a smaller lot. In France, parterre gardens were originally designed with intersecting pathways that allowed people to stroll through the garden and enjoy it firsthand. This is not always easy to replicate in the average Houston yard due to the size restrictions that some lots present to us. However, there are properties throughout the city that do have sufficient acreage for us to build a traditional parterre garden that provides both an aesthetic and a point of interest around which visiting guests may congregate.

Parterre gardens are a specifically French form, however, and will not work with every type of home architecture. Custom home design today can be very eclectic, so not every home we visit is going to have a specific cultural nuance to which we can match a specific cultural garden design. A large home may have a blend of European styles and require a luxury landscape plan that supports its overall aesthetic without leaning too heavily toward any specific European region or time period in history. Such properties can always benefit from a simple, yet carefully planted and maintained rose garden. Roses, like fountains, have come to symbolize luxury and wealth in both canonical and popular culture. There is almost no style of home or landscape to which they cannot be added in some form or fashion.

As important a role that aesthetics plays in luxury landscaping, it is essential to keep in mind that larger properties are developed with the entertainment of special guests foremost in mind. Not only must landscape architects work very hard to create impeccable forms and outdoor structures, but they must also make these structures easily accessible and comfortable for guests attending functions that are hosted at the estate. Custom paving design can be used to build any number of hardscapes to facilitate parking, foot traffic, and patio seating areas. These structures have to be carefully designed in such a way as to compliment the surrounding terrain and the architecture of the house, and the size of each structure must also be based on the anticipated number of guests attending specific types of events.

One may not immediately think of landscape lighting as being foundational to luxury landscaping, but when we consider that most of the events hosted on larger estates take place at night, it becomes readily apparent just how important landscape lighting is. Professional outdoor lighting provides visibility in gathering and transit areas, and it magnifies aesthetic by creating decorative effect in specific points of interests. Patio lighting, pathway lighting custom pool lighting, special garden lights, fountain lights, and concealed tree lights are just a few examples of landscape lighting designs that allow people to safely and comfortable move throughout the estate and enjoy its many finer nuances regardless of the hour of the night.