Record Houses: When house and garden become one
Architectural Record has published its 2013 Record Houses, the magazine’s picks of top residential designs including a concrete beach retreat on the Argentine coast, a New York country escape that’s “a cross between a Modernist skyscraper and a treehouse” and a minimalist Japanese house that is the equivalent of architectural haiku.
But the place that grabbed our eye first was Patrocínio House, a 2,650-square-foot design in Lisbon, Portugal, whose defining feature is a “floral quilt” of 4,500 plants wrapped around two exterior walls. The story reminded us of the Bricault house (story and photo gallery) that Debra Prinzing wrote for L.A. at Home in 2010.
Canadian architect Marc Bricault designed the house for his brother, Paul Bricault, and his family. Speaking by phone from his office in Vancouver, Marc said the Venice vertical garden has required some modifications in soil composition, irrigation and plant selection over the years, but the system is still in place. If you missed the house the first time around, you can get a look in person: The Bricault house, Marc said, is scheduled to be on the Venice Garden & Home Tour on May 4.
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