Hoffman Garden
One of many collaborations between MVVA and artists, the Hoffman Garden is the setting for a private Dallas residence and a gallery housing an exceptional collection of abstract and contemporary art. The location of the three-acre site next to a busy expressway required us to install a substantial perimeter wall for sound mitigation. The client seized the opportunity for MVVA to work closely with the artist Sol LeWitt to transform this functional element into a work of art. 560 feet long by 18 feet tall, LeWitt’s sinuous brick wall meanders through an existing grove of mature red oak and pecan trees. MVVA was meticulous in siting the wall and detailing its footings to protect existing root systems, ensuring the trees’ health and preserving their canopies that shade the garden from the intense Texas sun.
In a play of scale against the subtly undulating lawn, linear stone paths break off and start up again, tenuously connecting the residence, museum, and serpentine wall. The Hoffman Garden illustrates the results of a successful collaboration between a landscape architect and an artist to yield a united vision.
Under the light and shade patterns cast by the existing trees, MVVA introduced the abstract patterns of Texas shrubs and bold splashes of color from beds of perennials. New groves of crepe myrtles with saturated magenta, hot-pink, and fuchsia blooms moderate the scale of the tree canopy. The hot summer presents a lively counterbalance of color against the formally dazzling but materially restrained LeWitt wall.
