This project began as a blank slate: three contiguous lots with no buildings, poor soil, and few significant trees. Deborah Nevins & Associates developed an intricate landscape with stimulating spatial sequences to accommodate the owners' collection of significant twentieth century sculpture, as well as their interest in plants that are both native to Texas and able to survive the difficult climate and clay soil of Houston. The landscape is designed as a progression of unfolding spaces of different character: closed, open, dramatic. The house is shielded from the street by a grove of clipped hornbeam, thus providing privacy and a soft, mysterious interface with the city. With the device of framing space by hedges– used like walls in a building — a flat property comes to life and encourages walks, heightened sensual and visual experiences.