1995 - Bloomfield Hills, MI, USA
Saarinen Garden Cranbook Academy
Bloomfield Hills, MI
CLIENT The Cranbrook Academy of Art / STATUS Completed 1995 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates
The Cranbrook Academy of Art was established in the early part of this century as a complete artistic community embodying the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement. Eliel Saarinen, the community's architect, designed a house and garden for his family on Academy Way. Both house and garden had fallen into disrepair and have been recently restored.
Balmori Associates, responsible for overseeing a full restoration of the garden, studied many historical sources to guide the restoration design including an early garden plan, most likely drawn by Saarinen; photographs of the academy from the 1930’s and later; and various archival films. In addition, the plant palette of C. DeForrest Platt was determined from his original planting plans and informed all planting decisions.