Woodbine

For as long as anyone can remember, Woodbine was a parking lot. With the help of Depave Somerville and their crew of volunteers, within a few hours it was ready to become a garden. 

The design objective was to create a multi-functional family garden that integrates elements of rewilding. We packed the back with an eating area, play lawn and vegetable garden. The major play feature is a slatted house that creates a perceptual play of transparency and opacity, allowing it to visually recess back into the fence. The slats invite children to collect ‘loose parts’ and engage in a rich play of ‘categorizing and classifying’ in an ever-changing cabinet of curiosities. 

We rely on texture and materials to define spaces and create a flow between them. The square stone paver of the front walkway meets the rectangular stacked bond of the side yard at a threshold of reclaimed granite. The linear side yard connects to the wild of the back garden at a granite step to irregular flagging.

The planting is a textural mix of native plants and medicinal and culinary herbs. We navigate full shade to dry sun with a matrix of sedges and grasses that knit the space together and provide the backdrop for pops color. In the back garden we added several trees to scale and frame the space. 

In its short life, this garden has hosted numerous birds and many butterflies, including Swallowtails that love the Zizia, and a Monarch butterfly that metamorphosed on its Milkweed. It’s buzzing!

Location: Somerville, MA (2024)

Project Type: Residential

Project Design: lu — la

Site Photos:  Haley Dando