Datum House featured in The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s Garden Dialogues 2025: Berkshires, MA

Situated on 130 acres of previously fallow fields among the Greylock Mountain Range, Wagner Hodgson used Mount Greylock as the center of the design for this exceptional residential complex. Join TCLF for an exclusive tour led by Wagner Hodgson’s landscape architects Keith Wagner, Dale Schafer, and Rob Mooney who will share their design and illustrate how they highlighted borrowed views to fulfill their client’s vision.

Sprawling out across the landscape and divided into a series of connected, but distinct, sections, the home’s low rooflines allow for the surrounding mountains to be visible from all outdoor spaces, the sloping roofs following the crests and falls of the Mount Greylock profile in the distance.

Driven by the client’s desire to use their home for hosting, the landscape architects sought to create a balance between the public and private. This is achieved in the landscape through long, rectangular flagstone pathways laid in staggered patterns that point guests toward the event spaces, while subtler pathways connect to the private areas of the house.

Wagner Hodgson also prioritized sustainable stewardship methods, helping the client move toward their net-zero energy goal with the implementation of hidden solar panels, hydrothermal wells, and the use of reclaimed materials.

The broad landscape helped create the “Performance Lawn,” a long grass lawn bordered by a lighted ribbed stone wall, ideal for large outdoor gatherings. Visible over the low wall is a meadow of native grasses, shrubs, and flowers that encircle the entire home, demonstrating the harmony between designed and natural landscape and paying homage to the Berkshires of western Massachusetts.