Landscape architect Andrea Cochran took the top honor in this year's ASLA Residential design awards for a landscape in Birmingham, Michigan that pays homage to the area's industrial past (and present).

Cochran Birmingham 1

photos: Marion Brenner

The modern residence, home of an art collector and fashion pioneer who owns boutiques in New York and Birmingham, is grounded on a platform of lawn surrounded by corten steel, which anchors the large concrete building to the site.

Cochran Birmingham 2Paths were constructed to allow visitors to experience the landscape in different ways, and a courtyard/sculpture garden extends the interior of the home outside.

Cochran Birmingham 3A massive sculpture that looks like pick up sticks screens the garage and also serves as the entrance to the modern sculpture garden.

As Cochran put it in the project statement, "The shared belief that a unique personal vision can be embodied in the landscape and that residential landscape design need not be bound by conventional materials and practices guided the design team and client, motivating them to stretch the creative and technical design of the project."  The design jury agreed, saying "It's the culmination of a patron investing in a designer or landscape architect in their own vision of where they want to take this."

Read more on the project here.

 

 

 

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