JDDA is a landscape architecture design firm uniquely creating meaningful landscapes and defining every project with a sense of place and purpose. Our design work is inspired by our client’s dreams and wishes and informed by the landscape’s history and the site’s natural conditions. With a desire for artistic expression, we strive to enhance the human experience.
Fairlawn is entering a new chapter - one we’re calling Graceful Departure. This is a chapter about a home beginning to show subtle signs of decay, and about a family and team choosing to let it go with thoughtfulness and care. Together, we are handing the house back to its landscape, its wildlife, and its community. Every aspect of this design, demolition, and planting process will be untraditional and experimental - an act of creativity in letting go of a home that was well lived in, no longer needed, yet still deeply loved.
As landscape designers, we saw a unique opportunity: to design a demolition strategy that will result in a nuanced, rewilded landscape shaped by the architectural imprints of the house. Our design process began not with drawings, but with words - with a written set of guiding principles and parameters to ensure every decision is rooted in intention. Our goals are to:
Rewild the home, transforming it into a place where plants and wildlife can reside among the remnants of human life.
Maximize material reuse while minimizing waste and off-site material movement.
Create an environment that is safe for future inhabitants and visitors.
Establish a design process that embraces experimentation, creativity, and research - now and into the future.
New plantings will emerge through deliberate cuts in the concrete hardscape, accelerating the natural decay of architectural elements. Salvaged materials will be repurposed as wildlife habitats or left in place as open invitations for unanticipated occurrences. Adjacent to the house, a Miyawaki forest will be planted - drawing wildlife in and creating long-term opportunities for observation and study. Once the demolition and planting are complete, we will step back. Our role will shift from occupants and designers to witnesses, as the home gracefully transitions toward its next chapter.