Masonry Design
Masonry design involves the planning and construction of structures that are built with any number of masonry elements. These structures have a tendency to take on a life of their own. They create interest, and they vertical impact the Houston landscape.
The innovative aesthetics they create help shape a yard. Often they determine the boundaries of unique gathering places like courtyards and morning gardens. Masonry design generates perspectives that make small yards look big and big yards look less intimidating when they are divided into unique zones of interest.
The importance of vertical impact must be revisited and stressed at this point. Because the flatness of the Houston landscape is so often criticized by individuals the world over, something has to be done in the yard to give a sense of dimension. Many new residents to our city come from places where there is some variation or another in the landscape. It may not be a mountainous area, but at least there is a rolling hill or slope to the terrain that makes things interesting.
This longing for something other than flatland is not restricted to new residents. All of us who are from here have traveled at least as far as Austin and have enjoyed the beauty of its hills. Some of us went further and came back wishing that Houston had mountains like Los Angeles, or high mesas like New Mexico.
We can wish all we want but our yards are not going to grow mountains on their own, nor will ant hills become rolling hills in any good kind of way. What we need instead is deliberate grade alteration combined with skillful masonry design that breaks up the monotony of the Houston landscape and turns it into a yards of many levels, points of interests, and varied elevations both in hardscape design and landscape architectural perspective.
Any number of materials can be used to build such structures including stones, pavers, concrete, and bricks. Just consider the possibilities that exist for your yard using stone alone as your primary building material. Stone can be used in masonry design to build anything from a patio to a walkway to an outdoor kitchen. However, you probably do not want to cover the cost of building an entire building out of stone, nor would stone exterior buildings work well with every house in Houston. We only say this to illustrate how diverse the types and applications of stone truly exist.
Just as many possibilities exist with bricks and, to a certain extent, to masonry designs of horizontal surfaces like patios, walkways, and driveways. The type of concrete we create can be colored and finished to a near perfect state of perfection.
We recommend that you be honest with yourself in how much money you want to invest in each particular hardscape form we build for you. Prioritize your structures and use stone for the most prominent works, and brick or concrete for forms less notable or important to the overall grand scheme of your front or back yard.
These masonry structures, however, must be designed appropriately to the size of the yard, architecture of the home, respect for vegetation, and in proportion to outdoor buildings. It is best to have professional landscapers draw up the plans and then subcontract masonry experts to do the actual construction work in accordance with the landscape master plan and under the supervision of Exterior Worlds as the General Contractor.