The Croft

In this part of semi-agricultural, ex-urban Illinois, the landscape is contoured by decades of maladaptive land-use associated with industrial agriculture. The over-scaled machinery, deep furrows and drainage infrastructure have a profound impact on daily life, resulting in a sprawling, disconnected community. This project creates an area of ​​respite for an extended family, a meeting place that helps bridge expansions and distances. The design sets out to transform daily practices, by adding a significant outdoor space that is comfortable in all seasons, for intimate conversations, games, large gatherings and parties as well as to simply encourage life under the sky, out of doors and away from screens. More than an outdoor room, the Croft is also a cutting garden, so that families can take a piece of the garden home, or offer bouquets to neighbors and friends who are free to eat and cut, tend and exchange in the garden.

In close collaboration between the client, landscape architect, and architect, a novel solution for a new garden space was devised that limited the hauling of new material on and off site: unbuilding and reusing the existing timber-frame pole barn. While 12 trusses were repurposed for a new garage structure the cut remnants were capped and transformed into garden walls. The remaining trusses and roof armor against wind load and protect from sun and elements and all remnant material painted black. The eastern façade, structurally compromised without a truss, was rebuilt as cedar wall with roofed storage, a small entry gate recessed in once corner, and sliding cedar gates were constructed to fit existing openings on the north and south sides of the garden walls, framing views out and encouraging airflow. Exploratory excavation and soil testing revealed that the existing pad, while compacted, was composed of distinct and clean layers of gravel, sand, and clay loam; an area of ​​125' x 55' was excavated to a depth of 30”, the material mixed onsite with 55 cubic yards of compost and infilled back into place, micro-graded for drainage away from the central path and patio area.

Three single-stem, 6" caliper Crataeugus anchor the garden and vibrant herbaceous drifts cross the main curvilinear path, guiding movement through the Croft. Only the tops of the Crataeugus canopies can be seen from outside the Croft, a hint at what might hide within the black walls of the facade. Through the design process the location of the trees was considered in tandem with the form of the path, the low-branching and sprawling canopies directing and obscuring views alongside the overlaps and layers created by the bending, weaving walk. A mix of native cultivars, straight species natives, garden classics, horticultural introductions, and some edible perennials, all grown by nurseries within 75 miles of the site, determine the diverse colors and textures of the Croft.