Ten Times Better

by Aaron King, Landscape Architecture Magazine

Published December 8, 2023

Featuring Maura Rockcaste, PLA, ASLA and John Rasmussen

At Quarry House, TEN x TEN uses Minnesota stone and lissome birch to sculpt a residential garden in three dimensions.

The backyard as a distinct space has not always been with us. It is, according to the cultural landscape historian Paul Groth, a relatively recent invention that was made possible by technological innovations in the 1930s and 1940s.

As Groth wrote in the journal Landscape in 1990, those innovations rid American backyards of “various sheds, laundry lines, noxious trash barrels, and ash pits.” But it was the evolution of the garage from detached to attached that signaled the moment when the backyard became “truly free, a born-again space.” Backyards are, in effect, what remained after more rugged elements were expelled.

Quarry Garden, a residential landscape designed by the Minneapolis-based firm TEN x TEN Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, distinguishes itself by reintroducing ruggedness to the backyard. It’s located in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Southwest Minneapolis, and within the span of a year, it has pocketed both an ASLA Honor Award in Residential Design and a Landezine International Landscape Award in Private Gardens.  In their recognition of the project, the Landezine awards jury described the atmosphere of the yard as “rich,” “dense,” and “mysterious.” Mystery is tough to achieve on a residential lot spanning a fifth of an acre, and that warrants a closer look…

Read the entire article here.