Beauty, integrity, resilience

Blueprint
A LINE TO DESIGN
Beauty,
integrity,
resilience
Cole Burrell insists
landscapes last beyond
their visual impression
FINISHES
COURTESY COLE BURRELL
The formal dining
room’s reinvention
ELEMENTS
Marta Tice’s path
to design
ABODE 11
BLUEPRINT
ARCHITECTURE
A
t first, Cole Burrell was hesitant to pursue
landscape architecture. He’d spent his
life (since childhood, when he was, as
he says, “a bona fide science nerd”) studying
botany and horticulture, nurturing a curiosity
about nature that has since taken him all over
the world to lecture on plants and ecology. But,
eventually, an interest in design demanded further
attention, so he went back to school to pursue
a third degree in landscape architecture.
His initial fascination with the plants themselves has served him well, though, as his combined
knowledge of design and botany has led him to
publish more than 10 gardening books, write
150 articles for magazines like Fine Gardening,
Horiculture and Organic Gardening, and share
his passion with students at UVA, where he lectures
in the School of Architecture.
“This obsession with things green and growing
has never diminished,” he says. “I feel that
through meaningful design, plants have the
power to alter people’s lives.”
We caught up with him as he was hosting a landscape tour of the West Coast to ask about his childhood, process and what’s up next.—Caite White
Why landscape architecture?
I tried hard not to study landscape architecture.
As an undergrad, my focus was botany and horticulture and I received two degrees from Virginia
Tech. My freshman roommate’s brother was a
landscape architecture student. He spent every
waking moment in the studio. I thought he must
be crazy to take a degree that required so much
out of classroom time. When I started graduate
“The word ‘beauty’ has taken
a beating recently, but it lies
at the heart of my vision.”
work, I debated landscape architecture, but at the
time there were no programs in the D.C. area
where I was living, and I was not willing to relocate.
So, I pursued a second degree in horticulture
with a botany minor. As soon as I graduated, I knew
that I had to keep going. I was really interested in
design and realized I had no skill set in representation or in design process. So, in essence, I went back
for another degree because I realized I had too many
limitations to achieve my career goals.
What I love best about the field is how applied
it is. Unlike the hard sciences, everything you know,
and everything you learn, is immediately applicable to the design process. The field is remarkably
interdisciplinary. Botany, horticulture, ecology
12 ABODE
and geography—all my academic interests—
inform the design process.
Why did you choose to practice in Virginia?
As a transplanted Virginia native, I always knew
I would return to my home state. The majesty
of Central Virginia’s landscape, the gentle Blue
Ridge Mountains, russet broomsedge meadows
and towering hardwood forests are inextricably
linked to my sense of place and my sense of self.
I wanted to submit to this magnificent landscape,
and let it inspire my design work. I believe that
good design emerges from a strong sense of place
and, as a result, evokes powerful emotions.
What was your childhood like, and
how did it lead you to design?
I was a bona fide science nerd when I was a kid.
I wore black horn rim glasses and my uncle always
called me “professor.” Nature was my teacher,
refuge and inspiration. My interest in design
grew from a fascination with plants, a love of
gardens and from the imperative to acknowledge
natural process in the melding of nature and
culture through the design process.
I came to design through plants. As a young
birder and amateur botanist, the desire to see
plants in the wild, but also to cultivate them as
well, was very strong. I was lucky enough to have
about 800 wild acres near my house. These forests
and meadows were my playground, classroom
and nursery. I was totally immersed in the world
of plants in the wild and in gardens.
Of course with age, my territory grew, and I
began to explore beyond the limits of where my
bicycle could take me. My exposure to larger and
larger geographic realms meant more ecosystems,
more plants, more gardens and more designed
landscapes.
Tell us about your college experience.
Was there a stand-out teacher who
had a lasting impact on you?
By the time I made it to a landscape architecture
program, I had three degrees and a whole lot of
great teachers. My undergrad advisor, George
Briggs, was a landscape architect who taught in
the horticulture department at Virginia Tech.
Despite my roommate’s pitiable brother, trapped
in the studio, George exemplified life on the
other side of school, after the social deprivation
and all-nighters. He had a great skill set and was
an amazing teacher. He encouraged me to consider a design program.
In my LA program, Joan Iverson Nassauer
showed me how to pull all the diverse threads of
my life together. Her research tested perception
of and preference for ecologically diverse land-
scapes in traditional settings. The sociological
aspects of design interventions were fascinating
to me. As a result, my academic interests focused
on the origins of vernacular design traditions
and avenues for ecological innovation within
urban and suburban neighborhoods. These
threads continue to tie my work together.
Though trained in landscape architecture, I work
as a designer as I am not registered.
PHOTOS: COLE BURRELL AND KARIN FRU
(Clockwise from top left)
Among Cole Burrell’s past
projects are a gridded bosque of
Princeton Sentry ginkgo trees; a
Charlottesville landscape in which
brick walls define terraces that
cascade downhill from the house
while wide steps lead from one
level to another; a Charlottesville
garden in which native Amethyst
Falls wisteria festoons a low
wooden fence under a Higan
cherry tree; a waterfall garden
nestled quietly into a grove of
white oak trees; a Druidic circle
with teak root knot spheres
accented by Maureen tulips. On
the previous page, a pair of
Chinese urns flank a whitewashed
brick staircase in Charlottesville.
On process: How does it begin?
Every garden I create is different based on the
site, architecture, client’s needs and aesthetic
preferences. First and foremost I am designing
for the client. I enjoy the dialogue and the iterative process of bringing their vision to life
through my aesthetic and ecological filters. The
second consideration is the site itself. Not just
right plant right place, but the ecological foundation that supports the garden must inform the
design. The architecture of the house, and the
vernacular traditions of the neighborhood are
also important. I want my gardens to fit comfortably into the regional and local context.
What inspires you?
Beauty, integrity and resilience inspire me. The
innate majesty of nature and ecological processes that support it. The function of native
ecosystems and designed landscape is of vital
interest. Working with Joan Nassauer trained me
to look at all designed systems as functional ecosystems, and to design for resilience. That said,
you can’t sell an ugly landscape.
The word “beauty” has taken a beating recently, but it lies at the heart of my vision. As
Joan’s research elucidated, most people want to
conform to a societal norm—a given set of cultural and aesthetic expectation. For many in
Virginia, that is a somewhat narrowly circumscribed aesthetic. I love working with clients to
meet those expectations, but to also fold in the
functional aspects of the larger system to ensure
that the garden acknowledges and works with
the natural process so that it is able to function
ecologically. This is the greatest challenge and
the most exciting opportunity when designing
at the residential scale.
What are you working on now?
I just concluded a project in Warrenton and the
garden was open for Historic Garden Week in
April. We had 1,100 visitors and the response
was magnificent. It is great to have validation
that the work you are doing captures the imagination of visitors. Currently, I am excited to be
working at two scales: large country properties
and a few small urban lots.
ABODE 13