This project started with one directive from our client; make something beautiful, along the way we added innovation. At the center of this project is a deck that pulls the interior space of the home out into the garden, and becomes a flexible outdoor space for family dinners and cocktail parties. We’ve warped the horizontal surface of the deck into a prominent vertical element in the garden and inserted into the wall a lounge couch, succulent garden and a retractable shade canopy.
Wood is used throughout the garden to frame views and establish thresholds within the garden. Vertical fences provide a filtered effect in the garden that helps create a physical barrier but doesn’t impede the visual movement through the garden. The last hardscape element of the garden, concrete, is used as a patterning device that helps establish a hierarchy of paths in the garden.
The planting plan supports the space-making of the garden by establishing strong formal shapes within the garden and provides a visual movement through the garden. Color is used to highlight and support the structural forms of the garden as well as balance the visual interest.
This project is a testament to the collaborative process that can happen between designer and builder. We worked very closely with the builder to develop many of the details in this garden and believe that this collaborative process led to a better project.