IN HARMONY WITH NATURE … Exotic Enchanting Environments … Living in Harmony with Nature
Exotic Enchanting Environments … LIving in Harmony with Nature.
The Sanctuary is an 1,800-acre wildlife refuge, private estate and residence located along the Mississippi Flyway in rural northwest Illinois, dedicated to habitat restoration, conservation, education and research. This unique property, a privately funded Wildlife Foundation, is an Illinois not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the long-term restoration of habitats and the judicious use of our natural resources.
The unique granite stonework and landscape boulder walls of the property are extraordinary. The millwork, casework, ceiling and wall paneling was all specially designed and fabricated from kiln dried and milled black cherry wood trees, harvested and selected from the heavily forested property. The Sanctuary’s Built Environment is tranquil, enchanting and spiritual.
The property is the site of multiple research and educational projects – including Habitat Management and Development; Food Plots and Agriculture Plantings; Vegetation Manipulation; and Nesting Surveys. Additionally, it hosts several educational institutions for field trips and accommodations for a multitude of organizations and universities, including the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Design concepts
The primary design goal for the Dirsmith Group was to carefully craft a building and landscape environment that would blend into that marvelous piece of land and respect the natural landscape and existing lakes, ponds and trees. The owner’s father had actually bought much of the original property, and during the Depression started a program with the WPA and Boy Scouts to plant over 30,000 trees on the gently rolling Illinois farm land. There were a series of small natural lakes or ponds spread out among the tilled fields.
When we first arrived to walk the land, it was a bright, sunny spring day, and we spent 10 hours walking the 1,800 acres and talking to our client as to what were his and his family’s dreams and visions. It was very clear that this was sacred ground, traversed by native American Indians only a century or so before us, and now carefully cared for by its new owner, as all of us are, temporary tenants of the universe.
He wanted to preserve the land in some fashion for the future. He envisioned some form of a strong structure – wedded to the earth. The land was on the Mississippi Flyway, which was the route of some 300,000 Canadian Geese yearly, coming and going from the Bering Straits South to Crab Orchard Lake in Southern Illinois.
It was very clear that he really liked and respected nature and natural stone, and he wanted something organic, sculptural or spiritual in nature to reflect the power of the site. We discussed many kinds of materials and how they could be combined or used in a natural setting. Moreover, we listened to him detail what the land meant to him as a little boy growing up, and what it meant to his family and history of the midwest of America.
The owner, in his generous gentle and kind wisdom, has given the entire property in trust to his family Wildlife Foundation. In addition to forever preserving this wonderful land and building complex, he has also endowed a fund to perpetuate forever the running of the research study and conservation programs established and being performed yearly.
The entire property is now a research/study/conference center as well. We are honored to have been a part of this uncommon project.
To learn more about these concepts ….See:
http://www.dirsmithgroup.com/
NATURE PRESERVE AND SCULPTURE GARDEN
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=I_0bnWxMdrY
World Renowned (Hugh M, Hefner – 10236, Playboy Mansion)
http://www.dirsmithgroup.com/MOVIES/WORLD_RENOWNED_920x690_72.8Mb_6.34Min.mov
Hotel Il San Pietro – Positano
http://www.dirsmithgroup.com/MOVIES/IL_SAN_PIETRO_920x690_105Mb_6.18Min.mov
About Our Precious Children
KAM Isaiah Israel + BYRD Academy in Chicago
http://www.dirsmithgroup.com/kam_isaiah_israel/%20MOVIE_About_Our_Precious_Children_KAM_Isaiah_Israel+Byrd_Academy.mov
The Point at HYBERNIA
http://www.dirsmithgroup.com/MOVIES/Point_at_HYBERNIA.mov
CASA ON ANTIGUA
http://www.dirsmithgroup.com/MOVIES/CASA_CASOLI_ANTIGUA.mov
VITRUVIO
http://www.vitruvio.ch/arc/contemporary/1946-2001_02/dirsmithgroup.php
Duration : 0:5:11
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- Wills
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- Wills and Trusts
- Succession Planning Blueprint (ebook)
