JLF Architects believes that architecture and design do not end at the front door. They are elements that extend to the landscape, blending lines that can lucidly define living in beautiful places. And the sounds and sight of water, in particular, provide tranquility, reinforcing the idea of a house as respite or sanctuary. An outdoor space that integrates water and architecture – from cascading water in a clean-lined Wyoming patio fountain to a pavilion positioned in a spring-fed Tennessee lake – strengthens the connection to nature that is an integral part of every JLF house design in the Rocky Mountain West and beyond.
JLF sees water as a design feature that can create intimacy and drama while building affinity with a house’s natural surroundings, whether working with an existing water feature or creating a new one. Where the edges of a backyard might feel static, a garden or water feature can extend the beauty of the built environment through clever arrangements of hardscape elements.
Longtime JLF Architects’ design teammate, Verdone Landscape Architects, based in Jackson, Wyoming, has been enhancing the overall architecture of JLF projects since the 1990s. Working in tandem, JLF and Verdone have created an extraordinary collection of homes in the Rocky Mountain West where water features seamlessly flow with the design of the house.
For a house in Jackson, the JLF and Verdone team created an outdoor water-filled oasis including an 18-inch-deep pond that is chemical-free due to native grasses, whose roots process nitrogen to prevent algae and cloudy water. The pond substrate is covered in river bottom cobblestone from the Snake River and a wall of weathered Douglas fir serves as backdrop to cascading waterfalls.
In other scenarios, JLF Architects uses water elements to break up the expanse of a broad open space while also creating intimate focal points that relate back to the house. And the surface of water can double as a mirror, framing views of both built and natural environs for dramatic effect. One design element that JLF has become known for, a spectacular “dining bridge,” has been incorporated in house designs to create a uniquely indoor/outdoor dining experience over water where soothing sounds, reflections and surrounding landscape and wildlife make for memorable meals.
For one family’s dream house on a private 50-acre spring-fed lake in Tennessee, JLF and design-build partner Big-D Signature made the most of the water’s-edge placement and devised a clever solution to work within strict local regulations. The team ultimately drove steel piles into the lake bed using a barge-based crane, then placed precast stone-faced concrete sleeves over them. The finished “floating” porch structure, built atop the pilings and connected to the house via a series of footbridges, is usable during all four seasons thanks to summer screens that can be swapped for windows and heating in colder weather.
From simple fountain to private lake, water introduces a certain serenity into any landscape, and JLF Architects’ place-based approach, siting structures organically within their natural settings while honoring local history and geography, enhances water’s primal appeal.
