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| Geometry Lessons |
| Crisp symmetry, graceful grids, and lush plantings enfold choice modern sculptures in this spacious garden |
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The five-foot-deep infinity pool by landscape
architect Bruce Berger features a waterfall and shallow lower pool.
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The back lawn, thickly screened with trees, is home
to Ellsworth Kelly's Untitled (Rocker VIII). The brook and retaining
walls of Arkansian Hackett stone give the garden a pastoral feeling.
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The house and gardens occupy a five-acre parcel of land.
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by Marion Laffey Fox
Photos by Roger Foley
When an Oklahoma couple realized their contemporary
art collection had outgrown the traditional house they had lived in for 21
years, they decided to make a move and broaden their canvas, so to speak.
They hired Sills Huniford Associates to design a new house on a five-acre
parcel of land. Dallas landscape architect Bruce Berger of Armstrong Berger
created a setting that showcases the house, which the couple describes as
"totally American," and their collection of outdoor sculptures by modern masters such as Ellsworth Kelly, Alexander Calder, and Joel
Shapiro. The wife calls the new landscape "a serene and spacious
sanctuary."
The couple wanted a large garden with spaces designed
for specific pieces of sculpture. But it was more than an outdoor museum --
the garden also needed to work for entertaining. "We envisioned a
broad, clean sweep without fussiness but with an emphasis on contemporary
garden grids, multiple terraces and walls, water, and masses of plant
material," says Berger. The plantings are en masse because, he says,
"plants, like people, grow in communities." Because the homeowners were adamant about privacy,
Berger installed a thick, green screen of mature 10- to 20-foot
Foster, 'Nellie R. Stevens,' and Fizzler hollies before the
house was started. "That effort created an effective property shield and initiated the parklike backdrop," he
says. Beyond the gates and up the curving driveway, the red
Joel Shapiro sculpture in the motor court is surrounded by 12
'Claudia Wannamaker' magnolia trees, which are
intoxicatingly fragrant when in full bloom.
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