Table of contents for Exteriors & Landscaping 2023 in Atomic Ranch

Gibson Island is an idyllic private island with scenic topography ranging from pristine lakes and wetlands to rolling hills, forests and recreational areas, located on the western shore of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. With so much natural beauty surrounding the home, it’s no wonder the new owners of this 1958-built house would want to enjoy a seamless transition between the outdoors, the architecture and the interior spaces. The owners discussed their dream design with architects James Rill and James Murray of Rill Architects, who took on the task of renovating the mid-century home to achieve the look and lifestyle their clients wanted. “The home is all about flow between the interior and exterior,” Rill explains. “The house already had connected large expanses of glass, but was overwhelmed with renovations and additions…

MID CENTURY MODERN LANDSCAPE DESIGN ISN’T FUSSY. Distinguished by clean lines, linear pathways and geometric angles, its aesthetic feels solid, compact and straightforward. It presents a kind of curb appeal that a layperson might believe took no time at all to accomplish. In truth, mid-century landscape design isn’t just about pretty plants. Rather, it’s a confluence of architecture, horticulture and art, and its success requires intentionality and design aptitude in equal measure. “Mid Century Modern landscape design isn’t easy. The style is challenging and there are many levels of detail,” says James Drzewiecki CPLD, an award-winning designer and principal of Ginkgo Leaf Studio, a landscape design firm in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. James and his team, whose combined backgrounds encompass architecture, art and design, take a holistic approach when it comes to…

THEY MIGHT NOT BE THE FIRST THING you think of when you envision your home’s landscaping, but ground covers are an important part of your garden’s composition. Not only do they function as weed control and to help prevent soil erosion, they, well, cover a lot of ground. So, the right plants can have a profound effect on your garden’s overall look. That’s where Gary Lewis’s new tome, The Complete Book of Ground Covers: 4,000 Plants that Reduce Maintenance, Control Erosion, and Beautify the Landscape (© 2022, published by Timber Press, Inc.), comes in. “Ground covers are widely considered a utilitarian group of low-growing plants held to a narrow set of expectations: cover dirt and outcompete weeds,” Lewis writes. “Certainly, they can reliably provide these valuable services and become the…

Classic Mid Century Modern homes favor clean lines and minimalist design, but the style is also known for merging a home’s interiors with nature’s beauty. Cross the threshold of a typical Mid Mod home and you can expect to be enthralled with the style’s iconic use of walnut, natural stone and floor-to-ceiling windows that afford breathtaking views. However, Brian Carlson, principal architect at A2 Design, has pushed the union of nature and MCM interiors even further. Here, in his Austin home built in 1957 (with a large new addition completed in 2020), expectations of how an Atomic-era home should intertwine outside and inside are playfully challenged. LUMINOUS BENEFITS For starters, the home’s windows catch natural light in curious ways. Peering out onto the backyard, the new addition adds a primary…

MID-CENTURY DEVOTEES KNOW THE STYLE can feel different depending on the location. In Palm Springs, California, MCM exteriors reflect the desert, embracing barrel cacti and lofty palms. Hardscapes are punctuated with breezeways to keep air flowing and color schemes typically verge on vibrantly tropical hues. In other words, the best MCM designs in Palm Springs remember the popular watering hole is first and foremost a desert oasis. “My client really loved the Old Hollywood MCM vibe and wanted a nod to Palm Springs as an oasis during its heyday,” says Troy Bankord, designer and chief transformational officer at Troy Bankord Design, a landscape and interior design firm. “Decades ago, you’d drive to Palm Springs and there would be masses of flowers, grass and golf courses in the middle of the…

IN MANY WAYS, THE MID-CENTURY ERA IS responsible for the idea of the average American house being festooned with grass. You can close your eyes and picture it: vintage advertisements and nostalgic postcards of the post-war house with the white picket fence and swaths of green lawn behind it. But in the 21st century, grass lawns are becoming more and more passé, however this concept should not include a vast variety of beautiful grasses that have nothing to do with a flat, manicured expanse of mowed turf. Rather, ornamental grasses are dynamic components that offer color, structure, height and movement to a garden and should be considered for your modernist landscape for a variety of reasons. Grasses for Gardens and Landscapes by Neil Lucas is a new book that not…

/ CURB APPEAL / SOMETIMES THE BIGGEST AND MOST EFFECTIVE CHANGES for your home’s curb appeal are the hardest ones for passersby to detect. That was the case for this handsome Salt Lake City, Utah, gem built in 1957. The original architect is unknown, but what the current homeowners did know is that they wanted to keep the changes to the original exterior design as seamless as possible, while addressing a few functionally aimed improvements. “The existing entryway was odd,” says Olivia Lucas, design coordinator for Source Construction Inc., the firm that handled the home’s major renovations. It was awkwardly enclosed and unwelcoming, and the homeowners felt like it could be better utilized. “Turning [the entry] into a grander space added a sense of largeness to the home,” she says.…

Most remodeling projects have their challenges. Adding in a spouse’s desire to protect cherished childhood memories makes any remodel even more challenging. This was the task homeowners Christine Chan and Matthew Reiskin faced when they updated Matthew’s childhood home to accommodate their lifestyle and two children. The approximately 3,000-square-foot home in Bethesda, Maryland, was designed by Matthew’s architect father, Leon Reiskin, in 1963 as the family home. Leon’s admiration for Mid Century Modern architecture, and specifically the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is expressed in the open floor plan and large expanses of glass throughout the home. The influence of Frank Lloyd Wright is seen in the low-sloped roof. Although both are architects, Christine took the lead position in designing and managing the renovation as well as being…

NATURE, HISTORY AND MID CENTURY MODERN DESIGN intertwine on a storied North Carolina property that rises 230 feet up from the road. On old maps, the property is historically known “Stillhouse Bluff.” Decades ago, moonshiners flocked to it because of its native hickory trees. Hickory logs burn very hot and long and with little smoke, so they could remain incognito from the long arm of the law. Legend is woven over the land and people say the mountain is still haunted by the moonshiners. Due to its steepness, many architects were daunted at the idea of building on the otherwise stunningly pristine parcel of nature. “The property had been on and off the market for over 20 years. Its steepness scared most people away, but the owners were excited to…

IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO ADD a unique point of interest to your landscape design, consider a rock garden. Also called a rockery or a rockwork space, a rock garden is a portion of land where rocks and boulders large and small comprise a framework for ornamental plantings. The size of a rock garden need only be dictated by your available area and artistic vision. From riverbed-style arrangements to sprawling mounds to naturalistic spreads and even traditional Japanese Zen gardens, rock gardens come in many forms. No matter the approach, they not only make a wonderful feature that adds a dynamic variety to your garden, they are a great use of otherwise challenging spaces that may struggle with light, poor soil or other similar maladies. Here are some key things to…

FROM SMALL GARDENS AND BUSINESS PARKS TO expansive campuses and a legendary amusement park, Ruth Shellhorn’s illustrious landscape architecture career spanned from 1933-1990, and her distinctive style became what is now known as the “Southern California look.” Born Sept. 21, 1909, Shellhorn spent her childhood in South Pasadena, California. With the encouragement of her parents and neighbor—renowned landscape architect Florence Yoch—Shellhorn attended the School of Landscape Architecture at Oregon Agricultural State College and then obtained degrees in Architecture and Landscape Architecture from Cornell University. But upon her return to Southern California in 1933, during the height of the Depression, the jobs that were available were mainly given to her male colleagues. Nonetheless, Shellhorn opened a private practice. For 10 years, she established connections throughout Southern California, taking on jobs designing…