Richard Hartlage Creates a Stunning Intersection of Art and Nature in Redding

A showplace of architecture, gardens and sculpture, InSitu is a series of 18 outdoor rooms that flow from the house down the hillside.

A 27-foot-long bluestone plank, designed by homeowner Mike Marocco with Pilato Bros., the masons for the project, is bordered by dense blocks of grasses.

The eight-acre garden is nestled within the 312-acre Saugatuck Falls Natural Area, a landscape of deciduous woodlands, rocky outcroppings, and meadows; the meadow at its center was carved from the woodland.

Fountain Bench, made of steam-bent oak, is by British sculptor Charlie Whinney.

The stone steps were built by Pilato Bros. using material found on site.

Paths open to a sequence of hidden spaces each with a surprising work of art or water features. This path leads to Swiss artist Housi Knecht's stainless steel Swing, and then to Innocence by Pasquale Pilato, created from a reclaimed bridge abutment.

At almost eight-feet high, Housi Knecht's Swing is both sculpture and water feature.

Innocence is set against stone, graceful dwarf bamboos and mahonia, a glossy evergreen shrub.

Architect Daniel Libeskind'sfirst foray into furniture design was the faceted stainless steel Spirit House Chairs, set here on a gravel terrace beneath a canopy of sycamore trees.

Brazilian artist Artur Lescher's large-scale Sin Titulo (translated from Spanish as “without title”) are placed along the woodland trail.

Tulipula is by Connecticut artist Babette Bloch.

Logan’s spring stone African Shona sculpture is set by the swimming pool near to the house.

Encircling the water-feature bullseye, Richard Hartlage created a 40- foot-wide border of black-eyed Susans, rudbeckia fulgida, a variety whose leaves resist mildew and stay green into the fall. Embedded in the flower bank is Disc Orb by Al Roche, created from reclaimed agricultural steel discs.

The water feature at the heart of the black-eyed Susans, The Gathering, was constructed of granite by Pasquale Pilato. Parturition, the hand-blown glass floats in the pool, are by Cayn Thompson.

Throughout the garden, broad swaths of grasses and perennials form solid massed forms.

One of the most interactive works is the garden is 3-Semicircular Mirror Labyrinth by Jeppe Hein, one of Denmark’s most celebrated contemporary artists.