TERRY LAKE RESIDENCE

FORT COLLINS, COLORADO

The design for Terry Lake Residence integrates architecture and site with a bold linear gesture, bringing a simple yet powerful sense of legibility to the landscape while extending views to the lake and mountains beyond. Departing from the neighborhood’s typical front yard / backyard organization, the design draws inspiration from regional landscapes by orchestrating a journey from xeric upland to mountain canyon to open field. The intent is to form a continuous thread unfolding a series of plant palettes and ecologies based on topography and water distribution, applying the logic of the region and inviting broader landscapes within to enhance a connection to place.

As the landscape architect, Didier Design Studio was brought onto the project after the design of the house had been well advanced, but presented certain challenges in becoming integrated with the existing site and topography. Our first priority was to ground the house and negotiate a tight transition between upper and lower levels. In accomplishing this, we balanced the mass of the house with a large retaining wall, framing an intermediate landscape as a moment of compression before opening to broad views of the lake and mountains beyond.