Client:
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Gregory
Natchitoches, LA
Awards:
• Louisiana Chapter, ASLA Honor Award, 1992

Nestled near north central Louisiana’s Kisatchie National Forest, this residence takes full advantage of the region’s unique natural beauty. Rolling hills, rock outcroppings, spring-fed streams, mixed hardwoods and pines abound in the surrounding landscape. Preservation of these natural resources was a major consideration when Moore Planning Group, LLC (MPG) prepared a master plan for the residence.

The five-acre lakeside site presented several design challenges. To prevent any unnecessary clearing, MPG located all new construction in sparsely vegetated areas. They minimized most slopes immediate to the residence’s entrance, generally too steep to walk on, by the sensitive incorporation of walls and walks constructed of indigenous sandstone.

The project team’s goal was not merely to correct these site problems, but to create amenities from them. MPG enhanced an unsightly drainage corridor at the residence’s entrance by locating a “Kisatchie stream” in its place, with a bridge connection from the drive and new garage. The stream, filled with filtered drainage from the immediate area, is not only an aesthetic improvement to the property, but a functional one as well.

The Master Plan called for transplanting native plantings such as French mulberry, wood fern, red maple, wild azalea, and huckleberry, from other on-site locations and integrating them with other traditional southern plants. MPG's primary consideration in developing the Master Plan was to emphasize and enhance the inherent character of the region and site so that the solution had a distinct relation to its natural surroundings.