Shaw Residence

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Architect: Marlon Blackwell Architects

2023 Record House, Architectural Record

2022 AIA-AR Honor Award

This residential landscape draws inspiration from the grassland ecology of Northwest Arkansas, a stark departure from its surrounding suburban context. A palette of grasses and forbs provides a dynamic setting that changes dramatically through the seasons, while also reducing water consumption and sinking carbon deep into the soil. The central courtyard, surrounded by glass on three sides and an open air “porch” on the fourth, is designed with minimal means for maximum effect. Courtyard plantings and a small water feature provide sensory delight, cooling the main outdoor space in the heat of summer. To the south, an existing woodland edge is augmented with understory plantings to enhance the view.

Tallgrass prairie is an important habitat and a vital cultural resource. The project celebrates the significance of the prairie in Northwest Arkansas, demonstrating its potential as a replacement for lawn in a residential setting. With attention to scale and strong geometries, the prairie can be exceedingly architectural. Through the seasons, the grasses grow volumetrically, cropped closely to the ground at the end of winter or in early spring and growing throughout the season to a full height in the fall. The color shifts throughout the year with strong contrast between spring, summer, fall, and winter. 

Small groupings of trees complete the composition of building and landscape, providing contrasting scale and verticality. The morphology of hornbeam and ginkgo respond to the muscular geometries of the house while connecting visually and experientially to the existing woodland at the edge of the property. 

Photography: ©Timothy Hursley