Sopra Mare
The design of a Villa Terrace and its garden can be
viewed as a majestic manifestation of our need to feel safe in a landscape that
can be harsh, threatening and ultimately deadly. Our allure of the natural
landscape and its beauty has been captivating us forever. We search for
ways to recreate this beauty without relinquishing our agency over the wildness and
unpredictability of nature. It is the natural beauty of the landscape that we
admire yet instinctively fear the most.
Moving through this building one feels a sense of intimacy, calm, and safety. That sense is produced by a sequence of carefully manicured gardens. One can encounter this sense of safety while entering the driveway on Terrace Avenue, and remain comforted by its presence all the way through the grounds until one reaches the Neptune Gate by the lakefront. The path that guests take through the building is not one of twists and turns, but rather one that is straight and direct through the property, with brief pauses that allow visitors to admire the Villa’s details and special features. The Villa offers a choreographed experience—a holistic and sensorial engagement that places a visitor as an active participant, engaging their senses of sight, sound, touch, and scent. Water is the primary sensorial feature presented in the Villa’s procession. The significance of water throughout the property can be understood as it delineates space and extends the sensorial experience beyond one of visual details alone. |
The Villa's landscape architect, Dennis Buettner, explains the naming of the front courtyard at the Villa. Any visitor at the Villa will walk through this courtyard to begin their procession through the Villa.
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Welcoming
As you enter the Villa you find yourself sheltered from the elements, under a peristyle around a courtyard. The courtyard completely envelopes its guests producing a holistic sensate engagement with that space. Water in the central fountain welcomes arriving guests. Chirping birds perched on the clay tiled roof produce ambient sounds that fill the space. The soothing sound of flowing water creates a state of calmness—a safe place from the outer surroundings. This soundscape creates a setting that detaches arriving guests from the outside world. The fountain not only participates in a choreographed orchestra of ambient sound, it also guides guests along a sequence of spaces. The fountain restrains the central axis through the middle of the courtyard and sets stage for an ambling procession through the grounds. This slowing of movement engages other senses, such as those of sight, smell, touch, and sound. Water is used early on in the Villa's procession as a way to calm the mood of arriving guests. It is here that water plays a symbolic role of giving life to the experience of the Villa. |
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Unity
While crossing over from the courtyard into the home’s great hall, a small reveal of Lake Michigan can be seen if one looks through the glazed doors. These linked views connecting the courtyard, the Great Hall, the rear terrace, and the garden become part of a unified piece. In addition, the permeable nature of the architecture suggests its strong connection to the outside world. Once inside the great hall, all outward views reiterate a harmonic copresence of architecture with manicured nature. Nature is never outside the home as an intruder. It is always revealed as a tamed companion existing alongside the Villa. As the architecture of the Villa crosses over the great hall into the rear terrace and the garden, it feels as if the Villa is reaching out towards nature. The building façade overlooking the rear terrace was designed as the grandest space the Villa has to offer. Ornate Corinthian columns hold the architecture in praise atop a beautifully crafted terrace with stone balustrades and artfully designed putti. The scene seems set for visitors to admire the beautifully manicured Renaissance Garden below. In the past, before the beach and the Lincoln Memorial Drive was constructed, the Villa sat on the bluff and the property ended on the water’s edge. The predominant face of the Villa was turned towards the lake. |
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Offering
Why would the Villa show its grandest side to Lake Michigan? It does so because the lake portrays the beauty of nature at its fiercest, purest, and to the human eye, at its most alluring state. The Villa was built to complement nature but not formed naturally as nature does. Despite its glory the Villa can only succumb to the beauty of Lake Michigan; even the final water-feature along the procession through the Villa pays homage to the lake. As you reach the edge of the rear terrace you see the lake as it merges with the sky. You hear the sounds of flowing water and you gaze into the beautiful horizon. But the sounds of water do not come from the lake in the distance— they culminate from a stepped water fountain. This water feature is an offer to the lake—for the Villa cannot match the latter’s beauty and submits itself to the lake as an offering to the charm of nature. For without the lake, the Villa Terrace would not be the same and without the procession the Villa provides, the experience of nature would not be either. |
Gail Mosser, the Villa's past gardener, talks about all the kinds of wildlife she saw while working at the Villa. From foxes to turkeys, her stories bring a personal sense of wonder at what life finds its home amongst the shrubbery of the Villa Terrace.
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Stories
Bibliography
James Ackerman, “The Villa as Paradigm,” Perspecta 22 (1986): 10-31.
Michael Herzfeld, "Rhythm, Tempo, and Historical Time: Experiencing Temporality in the Neoliberal Age," Public Archaeology: Archaeological Ethnographies 8, no. 2-3 (2009): 108-123.
J. B. Jackson, “The Popular Yard,” Places 4, no. 3 (1987): 26-32.
Claudia Lazarro, The Italian Renaissance Garden: From the Conventions of Planting, Design, and Ornament to the Grand Gardens of Sixteenth-Century Central Italy, (New Haven: Yale UP, 1990).
James Ackerman, “The Villa as Paradigm,” Perspecta 22 (1986): 10-31.
Michael Herzfeld, "Rhythm, Tempo, and Historical Time: Experiencing Temporality in the Neoliberal Age," Public Archaeology: Archaeological Ethnographies 8, no. 2-3 (2009): 108-123.
J. B. Jackson, “The Popular Yard,” Places 4, no. 3 (1987): 26-32.
Claudia Lazarro, The Italian Renaissance Garden: From the Conventions of Planting, Design, and Ornament to the Grand Gardens of Sixteenth-Century Central Italy, (New Haven: Yale UP, 1990).