Danilo Maffei provided comprehensive site design and project management for this private residence where the prime objective was to create plentiful opportunities for outdoor engagement and borrow the natural landscape as a backdrop for the garden. Our firm assisted the owner in navigating approvals from the township, managed competitive bidding for site work, swimming pool construction and landscape installation.

The owner's program encouraged the garden to dominate as much of the site as possible, dramatically reducing the presence of the traditional lawn and replacing it with herbaceous perennials, flowering shrubs, and evergreen and flowering trees. Secret patios and verdant resting places offer numerous perspectives on the garden while the pool area is snugged up against the screen porch and deck for a quick swim at any time, day or night.

Classical European garden design meets environmental consciousness as this modern American landscape addresses complex site issues and the desire for an expressive and sumptuous family home. Scope of work included overall site design, driveway design, retaining walls, walkways, planting design, decorative masonry purchasing and contractor coordination.

Garden areas include a new gated driveway entrance in a classical style using antique ironwork and new decorative cast stone pieces. A formal allee of conical evergreens line the drive, leading to a formal lawn of clipped boxwood, steel-edged crushed stone pathways and a circular perennial border on the grand axis to the front door of the home. A quadrant garden graces the view from the dressing room balcony, with dwarf orange trees and fuzzy lamb's ears planted in oversized containers. A native-inspired meadow garden and vegetated swales offer seasonal interest while mitigating drainage challenges and filtering stormwater runoff. A pond is edged with yellow iris, perfectly on view from the center hall and a swing dangling from a nearby black locust tree.

Built in 1958 among more traditional architectural and vernacular styles, the broad, spreading form of this home was well suited to the flat site, but lacked sympathetic gardens. Danilo Maffei reorganized pedestrian and vehicular circulation patterns that resulted in green spaces framed by constructed details of concrete, stone and metal. A rectilinear espalier on the front wall of the house conceals an HVAC duct and offers a modern twist on a traditional gardening technique.

Maffei Landscape Design was engaged as a direct consultant as part of a multidisciplinary team to reimagine and redesign the 100 year old clubhouse which had been modified from time to time without a cohesive plan. Danilo Maffei offered a vision of turning underutilized land wedged between the 18th hole and the parking lot to become a place of hospitality, engagement and enjoyment while employing best management practices for resource conservation. Scope of work included site protection and demolition, green wall design, patios, accessible ramps and railings, stone retaining walls, fire pit, lighting and planting design.

The Student Exhibition Garden is an outdoor classroom for the students of the Professional Horticulture Program at Longwood Gardens and central to the curriculum’s capstone course. Education Department leadership turned to Danilo Maffei to redesign a portion of the Idea Garden and adapt it to the new function.

The garden features four distinctively different quadrants with similar spatial volumes where students work in teams to plan, install and maintain exhibits from May through October. A cruciform spine of sheared arborvitae provides screening between exhibit spaces, with thoughtfully placed portals for viewing. Gravel paths and indigenous Avondale Brownstone seating walls, along with permanent plantings of native trees and shrubs offer a dynamic space for students and visiting public alike.

A new construction amid venerable homes in Berwyn, the landscape of this family dwelling combines one spouse's desire for clean, simple lines and the other's wish for complexity and exuberance. The swimming pool features a garden patio, complete with pergola and fireplace, and a spa with waterfall bench. Purposeful outdoor spaces are complimented by thousands of perennials, shrubs and small flowering trees that offer colorful pleasure all year long.

Following a fire that destroyed the original dwelling, the owners were afforded the opportunity to realize their vision of a country garden inspired by their ancestral home, Primitive Hall. Organized in the agricultural spirit of the region, "Highland Mede" places family living and its horse farm essence at the fore of the design program while offering horticultural sophistication with a rugged edge.

Low walls, inspired by the stone fences of the region's agricultural past, define many of the edges between planting space and people space. Raised vegetable beds, bountiful cutting gardens and outdoor cooking and dining spaces offer a wide range of experiences in virtually any season.

A Chester County farmhouse dating to the early 1800's was updated with a modern outdoor living space using traditional materials and a gardener's sensibility. Rough hewn stone slab stairs and a river-washed gravel walking surface are pocked with perennials for months and months of colorful interest. A hot tub, artisanal furniture, a fire pit and an outdoor shower hung from an old pine tree complete this sun-worshiper's paradise.

This home was lovingly converted from a common four bedroom tract home to a well-crafted, Prairie-inspired showpiece. Broad eaves, low brick walls and fine woodworking offer the perfect backdrop for a naturalistic garden design.

A granite slab walkway, inspired by Asian plank bridges, seemingly floats above a woodland swale of low, herbaceous perennials. Indigenous boulders offer subtle reference points along the journey from the street to the front door as native and native-inspired grasses, flowering shrubs and small trees create a suburban garden ecology.

An aging Ranch style home was re-envisioned with a California vibe. Our firm designed the swimming pool, retaining walls and patios, and collaborated with the builder on deck design, railings and stairs.

Brushed concrete patios connect the lower level entertaining spaces of the house to the pool, which features a whirlpool with waterfall that cascades into the larger body of water. Creeping groundcovers and rustling grasses keep garden chores to a minimum, placing the owner's focus on the pure enjoyment of their home. The front gardens feature a porte cochere that was converted into a semi-covered patio, flipping the notion that the front yard is only for the enjoyment of the neighbor across the street or the passerby.

This global leader in ergonomic footwear established their headquarters in southern Chester County in 1998 and within the span of 10 years built three buildings on their campus, the last one being LEED® Gold rated, thanks in part to the design of the landscape. Danilo Maffei (at W.D. Wells & Associates) developed plans for all three buildings, incorporating elements key to their corporate identity. Natural beauty, art, personal well-being and civic and environmental responsibility are themes threaded through all of the gardens.