ALA designed a small backyard space for a busy family, relying on clever detailing of site features to deliver performance and aesthetic benefit. Bluestone paving, set into pervious decomposed granite, nods to the geologic history of the state while allowing for stormwater infiltration into a drywell below. One of the site’s two piano-key style benches milled from invasive black locust opens up to reveal storage space. Low-voltage lighting lessens impact to nighttime insects while illuminating a site shaded by adjacent structures. Curving cor-ten steel planters elevate vegetation to eye-level while protecting soil from building runoff. Textured, shade-tolerant plantings work in concert with weathering hardscape features to deliver a site that is entirely an ode to the nature of Upstate New York.

To Enjoy Studio

Marissa Angell