It’s always been part of the American Dream—having space, a bit of elbow room between you and the neighbors. A lucky few get to have a lot of space, acres of it, all to themselves. But figuring out how to make a big spread feel like home takes owners with vision and affection for their land and the collective wisdom of a team of professionals.
The challenge of a big site is finding the right balance between developing it to accommodate the owners’ wish list while protecting the features that made the land so appealing to them in the first place. We feature two unusual projects in this issue—a 15-acre property on Cape Cod and a 65-acre site overlooking California’s Napa Valley—that strike a sensitive balance between the natural and the man-made.
Each project leaves the greater part of its site untouched, allowing the owners, their distant neighbors, and the flora and fauna that depend on the site to enjoy the natural beauty and bounty that surrounds them. Where these projects part ways is in how they deal with the portion of the land that is developed. One huddles buildings and outdoor spaces together at the most civilized end of the property, near the road, leaving a long, untouched swath of beach scrub between house and sea. The other interweaves buildings, outdoor amenities, gardens, and vineyards through a portion of the site to create a moving feast for the senses as one travels through the landscape. The owners of these houses and their design teams, it seems to us, got it just right on these two sites—two homes designed for the enjoyment and protection of their rich natural surroundings.
