East Meets West in This Gil Schafer–Designed Meditation Garden in Maine

When casting a spell for seamless indoor and outdoor tranquility, architect Gil Schafer and landscape architect Stephen Mohr invoke an unlikely swirl of influences: old English barns, Japanese teahouses, and rocky cliffs. “The goal was to make this property extra special to compensate for it not being on the water,” says Schafer of this introspective courtyard near the coast in Camden, Maine.

It’s part of a small farm compound that begins with a main house built like a bank barn (a multilevel building built into the side of a hill) and flanked with similarly shingled buildings that unfold into a courtyard. “The way they are each oriented inward dials up the discretion of the interior landscape,” says Mohr. So too does the abundance of rugged granite blocks used to define the water tables and garden beds, imparting a powerful composure to the design and lending a distinctive element of Maine’s coastline, notes Schafer.

The defining one, perhaps, is a 50-foot stepped trough between apple trees that conjures “a moment of stillness and reflection,” says Mohr, noting that it serves as a calming metronome to visitors. By contrast, two terraces with narrow pools along the perimeter allow water to trickle down like a Japanese waterfall, he adds. Meanwhile, a lattice-design deer fence references an Asian screen hanging inside the main cottage. “We worked to conceive the building and garden as one, for a truly magical—and memorable—sense of place,” says Schafer.

2022 World's Most Beautiful Garden winner for Ultimate Courtyard Oasis.

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