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I ’d seen snapshots of Dr. William Wosick ’s home base outside Fargo , North Dakota , but I was n’t prepared for the impact it would have on me when I showed up to photograph it . After driving past identical - looking mini mansions perched amid tidy lawn — by far the predominant motif in this part of the Upper Midwest — I pulled up across the street from a spectacular cedar - and - steel - clad structure . It consisted of cross horizontal , vertical , and diagonal plane rising gracefully from an unusual tree - fringed landscape . As I walked up the private road , camera geared wheel in hand , I was filled with the adept that I was entrust suburban Fargo behind and entering an intensely private land .
Fargo , North Dakota is prairie state where Dr. William Wosick ’s state of the art modern home in the wilds of this furrowed country show the dynamic dividing line create when strict lines immix with the serendipity of the lifelike reality . He sought a dwelling suited to his assemblage of modern art for a perfect surroundings of structure and space . Here the owner and designer had planned a upstanding bulwark , but while in the frame microscope stage the wood beyond prove so compelling the window was summate . When inner spaces tie to the world outside via such openings , there is a powerful sense that the exterior spaces are purposefully integrated into the geomorphologic design . photograph by : Chelsea Lobser . SEE MORE photograph OF THIS GARDEN
Wosick , a diagnostic radiotherapist , greeted me cordially . “ I know you need to take vantage of the light , ” he state . “ Just come inside when you require a jailbreak . ” Then he leave me to discover the dimension on my own . As Garden Design ’s photo editor , I have seen many gorgeous homes and gardens , but everything about this place seemed new and especial . To my left was a pretty belt of native prairie blue grama grass edged by silky rectangular planters from which taller Grass mature . I mark the boxes were made of the same wakeful - gray-haired plane brand that covered parts of the house itself . tower over the house ’s south face was a magnificent bur oak tree , and to the right of the driveway I escort a crescent of turf flank by sieve paries , focal planting , granite footpath , and , in the background , an emerald drapery of exuberant woods that protract down to the banks of the Sheyenne River . I recalled Wosick secernate me his place sat on just over an acre of land , but it just did n’t seem possible that all this mixed bag could fit into such a lowly plot of earth .
As I toured the grounds , I found myself as impressed by what was not there as by what was : no sprawling lawn ring by privet hedges , no rhododendrons or showy ornamental and , most interestingly , very few neatly symmetric planting and architectural constituent . In their place were elegantly - arc walk that mimicked the contours of the house ; vast , glacier - smoothed boulders , part hidden by foliage , that dish as benches ; tufts of aboriginal grasses and wildflowers , including prairie drop-seed and majestic coneflower ; and a knee - gamey “ fin wall ” of that same gray blade extending some 45 foot from the house and echoing its white , geometrical lines . The vibration was tranquil , and as I follow the prairie grasses swing in the air , the wheat berry arena near where I grew up in Ohio come to head , and I suddenly feel strongly bind to this place .
This view shows how well the individual raised planters let out up the radix of the expectant woodwind instrument building wall into glimpses of overt space or views through the grass flower spikes . The metallic panel walls are treat differently , perhaps due to their resilience when plants grow aright up to the foundation . Here blue grama , one of the most common local perennial prairie green goddess is short and well suitable for a large swath beneath the trees . It ’s the fine textured ingathering of grasses that makes this penning talk ; with each element stand out in sharp focus . Photo by : Chelsea Lobser . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
afterwards , indoors , Wosick explained that he ’d commissioned the home in 2003 , hiring Fargo - establish Stahl Architects to create the house and another local firm , Land Elements , to design the landscape painting . They visited 10 land site before selecting this one , and during the two - yr - recollective preparation and invention phase the principal sum of both house cope with with their client weekly — an intense collaboration . “ I lie with I wanted to build a complex body part that would fit into the exist landscape , not visit , ” Wosick says . “ North Dakota is a prairie , and I require to be mindful of that fact . ” Before the house was even sited on the attribute , he append , Land Elements make out a full Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree stock-taking and rating of the land so they could build up in deference to the surrounding nature .
As for the house , he want it to have the feel of a picture gallery — a place to exhibit his large collection of contemporary artworks , admit a identification number of abstract paintings . He is a fan of the German artist Josef Albers ’s Homage to the Square series , which partially inspired the crisp geometry of the theatre ’s pattern . “ Geometry is extremely important to me , ” Wosick narrate me . “ It ’s clean ; it ’s pristine — there is nothing leave alone but the simplicity of it . ”
As my host showed me around the house , I wonder not so much at the nontextual matter on the wall , though , as at the views that lay beyond . Outside every one of the dwelling house ’s Brobdingnagian Loewen moving-picture show windows ( see “ Creating a Room With a View , ” pageboy 39 ) were stunning natural panorama and not even a sliver of a neighboring home . In the master living area , a whole corner of the sign of the zodiac seemed to dissolve thanks to base - to - ceiling windows that allow a 90 - degree scene of the riparian woodland outdoors . “ I wanted to have ocular passages through the house , ” Wosick says as we fend in a soar up atrium looking up at stacked straightforward windows . “ And I wanted to see out and see the sense of the outside even when the seasons do n’t allow it . The exterior is so beautiful to me , and windows are picture frames for the art of nature . ”
This side of the home is less monolithic with these extruded surfaces and larger windows . Planting here is more diverse , with designer relying on prairie perennial dead adapted to growing within vast stands of aboriginal grasses . These flowering plants are the only colour in this landscape not part of the edifice itself . The tall prairie coneflower with its beautiful magenta blossoms and black - eyed Susans flower over summertime , then the cone shaped seeded player pass bring hungry hoot close to the window for uninterrupted observance . exposure by : Chelsea Lobser . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
Indeed , the out-of-door scenes were like complete little vignettes , as if the terrain had shift to fit the window frame . Often it was quite the opposite , says Phil Stahl of Stahl Architects . “ We were literally stand there during the building of the house , calculate through the studs and saying , ‘ I want to see these trees , ” he says , and then designing the room accordingly . Every room and every window was configured with seasonally change views in mind and with the aim of make for the exterior in . Both Stahl and the landscape painting architects at Land Elements say they take Wosick ’s home to represent a sort of watershed minute for their practices . “ Lovers of modernity start come out of the carpentry after that , ” Stahl says , “ And Land Elements had a exchangeable experience , with multitude on the spur of the moment asking them about aboriginal plantings . ” Stahl sum up that have a client who was so involved in the process proved to be a great asset . “ Bill really understood make-up and balance , ” he order . “ He ’s a big cause it turned out so well . ”
As for Wosick , the benefits are all around him — all year round . “ It ’s an ever - vary landscape painting , ” he articulate . “ shine and wintertime are so beautiful too . At Nox , you could see northerly light source trip the light fantastic above the trees . ” That would be something to come back for , I thought as I took a few last photo and allege goodbye .
