Our response was to fashion an open, airy, modern-yet-casual terrace garden anchored by a clean-lined metal shade pergola inlaid with louvered ipe slats.
The hyper-contemporary Superior 110 building in Chicago’s River North neighborhood has nothing but great city views for its tenants, and our clients wanted to make the most of their terrace space while not impeding their sightlines. Our response was to fashion an open, airy, modern-yet-casual terrace garden anchored by a clean-lined metal shade pergola inlaid with louvered ipe slats. This same material and approach was used in creating wall-mounted paneling to break up the long expanses of white stucco on the terrace, as well as an armoire for storage. Planter boxes of varying sizes contain Juneberry, Karl Foerster ornamental grasses, blue juniper, perennial/annual mixes and some of the client’s own favorite plant choices. All the plantings are, of course, irrigated. At night, the terrace garden comes alive with landscape lighting which shimmers on the pergola, highlights the bold colors of the annual plantings, and reveals the textural beauty of the Juneberry trees and movements of the grasses. And the backdrop to all this beauty? The city skyline at night, unobstructed.
