Landscape Design with Salvaged Stone

The use of salvaged stone and salvaged building materials is becoming a great way to be green and save money on your renovation and landscape projects while adding tons of character. Our office is known with the local quarries and stone yards for scouring the back of their lots for salvaged, special order materials that have been returned, or what they would consider left over scraps and incorporating these one of kind materials in our design process early on. Actually letting these pieces inform the design in a big way. This keeps every project fresh and will in turn create a unique built project that is easy on the environment since we haven’t promoted any new quarrying since it was rescued during the demolition of another project or simply left over and left to grow moss or lichens on the surface.

Custom Rustic Stone Wall Designed by Landscape Architecture, Inc.

With respect the Desnoyer home renovation in St. Paul we are looking to put the creative touches of salvaged stone on a design feature as simple as an egress window. First of all with any window well maximizing light into the window is always critical. Thus, we want to specify a stone wall material that is generally lighter in color. Secondly, we would like to have a stepped design to not only allow for additional light but also create a code compliant means for escape if needed.  Incorporating these design principles on this project is especially a hit since the window is facing south and there is also a large shade tree in the front yard creating some dappled shade in the summer and full sun during the winter months.  With these parameters in place we recently stumbled into some gorgeous salvaged sandstone that we are really excited about incorporating for this design element. This stone material that is pictured was reclaimed as part of a local demolition project for reuse by folks like us. The sandstone was originally quarried in north central Minnesota for bridge abutments most likely more than 100 years ago. In addition to the striking character and rustic staining, this is a perfect color mix for this home renovation project. We hope to incorporate this green and creative feature within the next week so I will update the blog with process and finish photos soon.

Recycled / Salvaged Sandstone

Stephen Mastey, ASLA, CLARB, LEED AP
Landscape Architecture, Inc.
856 Raymond Avenue, Suite C
St. Paul, MN 55114
651.646.1020 office
651.246.1151 mobile
www.landarcinc.com