Set in a thirty-four acre site in rural New Jersey, the Quarry House is the site of a decommissioned shale and sandstone quarry from the early 1900s. The property is comprised of a heavily wooded second growth forest of oaks, maples, and hickory with sensitive wetland habitats interspersed throughout the entire landscape. The design for the Quarry House landscape acknowledges the site’s lengthy history of disturbance by creating a strategy to amplify some of the residual stone artifacts from the quarry operations that are scattered around the site. Large cut stone shelfs around the pond are uncovered and featured as a foregrounding element in the design. Expansive areas of stone spoils are reorganized to create a sculptural ground plane that defines the entry drive sequence. Stone boulder fields found in the heavily wooded areas of the site are given access and repurposed as contemplative gardens. A stone garden and fluctuating water feature at the arrival of the house explore ideas of how stone was extracted and processed.
Terrain Work’s design also contemplates the broader disturbance to the site and its ecological functioning. The three primary ecosystems found on site – upland deciduous forest, wetlands, and meadows – each have been carefully studied to understand how to recover lost ecosystem services that have been in precipitous decline through the last century. Each of these areas are carefully designed to re-introduce native plantings and eliminate invasive species that prevent larger habitat development. The result is a landscape that will provide critical sources for food and cover for indigenous New Jersey wildlife.