Silverleaf
Silverleaf III
Silverleaf- Location
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- Scope
- Landscape design, Pools and water features, Hardscape and masonry, Planting and native salvage
An entry courtyard in Silverleaf, reduced to three moves and a view.
The brief was restraint. Rather than fill the courtyard, the design holds it almost empty so that the water wall, the planting channel and the mountains beyond do all the work.
Design
A low stone wall runs the width of the space with three sheet spillways cut into it, backed by salvaged saguaro and barrel cactus so the skyline of the planting matches the skyline behind it. A steel-edged channel of decomposed granite splits the paving on axis and carries a single agave as the arrival note.
Build
Merit Landworks built the wall, the water feature and the paving, and set the cactus and desert planting to the levels the design depended on. Large-format slabs run flush to the gravel with no upstand, which is what keeps the courtyard reading as one surface.
