The Hillside Terrace Residence is located in one of Northampton’s downtown neighborhoods overlooking the Mill River. Situated within a neighborhood characterized by long narrow lots, the homes are spaced 20 feet apart and 20 feet from the street edge making for a cohesive neighborhood streetscape. Most yards in the neighborhood drop precipitously down towards the Mill River floodplain, with steep drops of 35 to 40 vertical feet of elevation change along its length, offering opportunities to make vertical and horizontal connections through the landscape.

The clients reached out to Berkshire Design Group after one Spring afternoon they watched a tree tumble down their back slope, crown to rootball. The project’s initial request was to address slope stability issues, while creating more layered vegetation between the street and their front door, as well as providing more usable space in their backyard with easier access to the lower level of their yard, and plantings which supported native pollinators.

Berkshire Design developed an approach for both the front and back yards in phases and applied and using similar design language to unify the two design areas. In organizing the spaces, the team considered principals of prospect and refuge, social scale of public space, and transitions from more refined palettes to looser and naturalized textures as one moves through the property front to back, and up to down.

Out front, the project expanded and elevated a deck area near the front door to create vertical separation, with a front “stoop” that is in turn screened by raised stone planters, and layered plantings with staggered seasonal display.

Out back, the team built up a lawn terrace adjacent to the basement and provided a series of ipe deck and stairs to connect the main level to this terrace as well as the meadow terraces below. The project incorporated granite steps, ipe decking, granite walls, and geoengineered retaining walls designed to withstand the stability challenges presented by varved clay found on site. The final result stabilizes the hillside, carves out usable space, creates an overlook as well as a path flanked by pollinators to access the Mill River terrace below. The meadow was seeded with a mix of seeds, plugs, and container plants with color diversity and staggered seasonal blooms.