Use a "Regionalistic Style" to Develop a Cohesive Landscape
I am always striving to marry architecture to site and developing a cohesive landscape design that looks like it belongs to the area. This concept has been coined site-specific design or regionalistic landscape design. The idea of a regionalistic landscape design has a greater audience in the idea of celebrating where one lives through the connection in the landscape.
We once had a woman from Minnesota email us with a set of photos. She had been inspired by one of our gardens and wanted to replicate it at her own home. She planted in pots a variety of mediterranean grasses and perennials. She had cleverly placed the pots on wheels and would bring them inside during winter months. Unfortunately, she missed the point of the design. What had made the garden so special was its connection to its site. It blended into the surrounding hills and estuary . The same plants used in Minnesota were a shocking contrast. It would have been better had she valued her native landscape as much as she valued the one she copied from the California coast.
In joining this website we have noticed how easy it is to borrow others ideas without appreciating the thought and context of a site and what makes it work so well. Instead of saying "I like this or I like that" take a look into your own site, the surrounding environment or the existing architecture, and figure out what makes your site special and how to draw inspiration from what you see and what you have. Then you would have created something truly unique that fits your site and is something you love.
This ideabook seeks to exhibit those designs that celebrate the uniqueness of their site.
We once had a woman from Minnesota email us with a set of photos. She had been inspired by one of our gardens and wanted to replicate it at her own home. She planted in pots a variety of mediterranean grasses and perennials. She had cleverly placed the pots on wheels and would bring them inside during winter months. Unfortunately, she missed the point of the design. What had made the garden so special was its connection to its site. It blended into the surrounding hills and estuary . The same plants used in Minnesota were a shocking contrast. It would have been better had she valued her native landscape as much as she valued the one she copied from the California coast.
In joining this website we have noticed how easy it is to borrow others ideas without appreciating the thought and context of a site and what makes it work so well. Instead of saying "I like this or I like that" take a look into your own site, the surrounding environment or the existing architecture, and figure out what makes your site special and how to draw inspiration from what you see and what you have. Then you would have created something truly unique that fits your site and is something you love.
This ideabook seeks to exhibit those designs that celebrate the uniqueness of their site.
The curvilinear lines of the deck and site walls draw from the lines of the bay and sand dunes beyond.
Pattern from deck's quilted direction and raised beds are planted in crop rows mimicking the borrowed agricultural landscape in the distance. Beyond that native and "nativesque" plants mimic the dunes.
Stone from the area and planting masses of drought tolerant plants help weave this backyard seamlessly into the site.
The architecture relates to the vertical trees and stone ties into what appears to be site stone.
At one in the oaks. The scale of the house blends with the stature of these trees. The roof pulls in the grass meadow.
The house disappears into the oak canopy. The vegetative roof follows the curves of the hill.
Horizontal roofline and the soft color of the wood selection of the house matches the hillside behind .
The lodgepole at the entrance ties into the surrounding trees. The stones at the base of the house, the exterior color and the roof color are all reminiscent of a creek bed and the dry river stones.
Stone used ties back into the site stone relating the ground plane and the sensitive wood color selection ties back to the Madrone Tree.
This architecture mimics the structure of the surrounding trees and the reflection of pines in the windows offer a camouflage of sorts. It seems as though the base of the house is on the same level with the foliage on the trunks of the surrounding trees. All lines on the house are vertical, helping it to blend away with the vertical form of the pine trees.
The driveway is rough DG, remenisent of a desert floor. The planting palate is clearly regional in its choice of native desert species. The color of the home and style of architecture is remeniscent of an adobe structure. From afar this home blends into the surrounding mountains in the distance.
Serpentine, often considered an undesirable material is celebrated in this backyard. Instead of hauling off excess rocks during the homes remodel process, stone was kept onsite and placed in gabions. The gabions form a garden wall and bench seating.
Plant palate pulls in the same green of the oak covered hillside. When this site was remodeled all palm trees and tropical-esque plants were removed so that the home would blend more seamlessly with its surroundings.
The sea wall has been painted a similar color to the sand. The overall design of a spiral is reminiscent of the spiral on a sea shell and the blue glass mimics the water of the Pacific Ocean beyond.
As with most of the work we do, there is a story behind this design. The home is situated in the Los Osos Valley containing the "Seven Sisters" mountain range. The series of 7 peaks was drawn into the hardscape at this site, with 7 posts of varying heights in the arbor structure. Grasses were used as the main landscape palate to blend into the surrounding grass hillsides.