The front entrance with bamboo fencing leads into the backyard space. Located in Bucks County, PA.
Patio - zen patio idea in Philadelphia

Andrea Calo Photography
Example of a trendy living room design in Austin with a two-sided fireplace

Small residential garden to suite a modern house and active children. -kwmla-
This is an example of a small contemporary backyard landscaping in San Francisco.

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A local Houston art collector hired us to create a low maintenance, sophisticated, contemporary landscape design. She wanted her property to compliment her eclectic taste in architecture, outdoor sculpture, and modern art. Her house was built with a minimalist approach to decoration, emphasizing right angles and windows instead of architectural keynotes. The west wing of the house was only one story, while the east wing was two-story. The windows in both wings were larger than usual, so that visitors could see her art collection from the home’s exterior. Near one of the large rear windows, there was an abstract metal sculpture designed in the form of a spiral. When she initially contacted us, the surrounding property had only a few trees and indigenous grass as vegetation. This was actually a good beginning point with us, because it allowed us to develop a contemporary landscape design that featured a very linear, crisp look supportive of the home and its contents. We began by planting a garden around the large contemporary sculpture near the window. Landscape designers planted horsetail reed under windows, along the sides of the home, and around the corners. This vegetation is very resilient and hardy, and requires little trimming, weeding, or mulching. This helped unite the diverse elements of sculpture, contemporary architecture, and landscape design into a more fluid harmony that preserved the proportions of each unique element, but eliminated any tendency for the elements to clash with one another. We then added two stonework designs to the landscape surrounding the contemporary art collection and home. The first was a linear walkway we build from concrete pads purchased through a retail vendor as a cost-saving benefit to our client. We created this walkway to follow the perimeter of the home so that visitors could walk around the entire property and admire the outdoor sculptures and the collections of modern art visible through the windows. This was especially enjoyable at night, when the entire home was brightly lit from within. To add a touch of tranquility and quite repose to the stark right angles of the home and surrounding contemporary landscape, we designed a special seating area toward the northwest corner of the property. We wanted to create a sense of contemplation in this area, so we departed from the linear and angular designs of the surrounding landscape and established a theme of circular geometry. We laid down gravel as ground cover, then placed large, circular pads arranged like giant stepping stones that led up to a stone patio filled with chairs. The shape of the granite pads and the contours of the graveled area further complimented the spirals and turns in the outdoor metal sculpture, and balanced the entire contemporary landscape design with proportional geometric forms of lines, angles, and curves. This particular contemporary landscape design also has a sense of movement attached to it. All stonework leads to a destination of some sort. The linear pathway provides a guided tour around the home, garden, and modern art collection. The granite pathway stones create movement toward separate space where the entire experience of art, vegetation, and architecture can be viewed and experienced as a unity. Contemporary landscaping designs like create form out of feeling by using basic geometric forms and variations of forms. Sometimes very stark forms are used to create a sense of absolutism or contrast. At other times, forms are blended, or even distorted to suggest a sense of complex emotion, or a sense of multi-dimensional reality. The exact nature of the design is always highly subjective, and developed on a case-by-case basis with the client.

Photos by Lori Cannava
Example of a trendy patio design in New York with no cover

Behind the Tea House is a traditional Japanese raked garden. After much research we used bagged poultry grit in the raked garden. It had the perfect texture for raking. Gray granite cobbles and fashionettes were used for the border. A custom designed bamboo fence encloses the rear yard.

This TriBeCa, NYC contemporary roof garden terrace design features dark grey fiberglass planters holding azaleas and spiral topiary evergreens and contrast nicely with brown bamboo roll fencing, wood fence, and wood interlocking deck tiles. This rooftop terrace is located in Manhattan's TriBeCa neighborhood. Read more about this garden on my blog, www.amberfreda.com.

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An Austin-stone residence in the Greenway Parks North area of Dallas, the backyard was devoid of character with only an outdated wood deck and converted garage studio as features. The owner, a Texas native who had moved back after years in Malibu, California, was referred by his Architect to Landscape Designer Patrick L. Boyd-Lloyd, APLD, with David Rolston Landscape Architects, to maximize the small backyard with feature's he loved from days spent in the year-round outdoor environments he'd become accustomed to: Lounge Pool, with spa jets and heater, Check; Natural-gas Firepit (no smoke here!), Check; Outdoor Screen-wall for viewing Movies, Check; Lounge and Dining Spaces, Check; Lush and Textural plantings, Check. All tied together with a low maintenance Ipe wood Deck and custom cut random rectangle Oklahoma Flagstone.

This Cobble Hill, Brooklyn terrace features custom ipe planter boxes filled with bamboo and backed by a privacy screen of bamboo roll fencing. The furniture is the wood slat sectional from West Elm. All of the planters contain drip irrigation and automated low-voltage lighting. Read more about our projects on my blog, www.amberfreda.com.

Old Florida Tropical Bayfront Residence Lori Hamilton Photography George Cott Photography
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A formidable pallet of Asian style plant species along with traditional bamboo construction and meandering stone and gravel pathways.
Inspiration for an asian landscaping in San Francisco.

Located within a residential building, the design intention for this terrace was to create a visual and experiential escape from the city with a four-season garden. A full-width wall of bamboo was planted to break the monotony of the existing fence, create an ambiguous visual depth and generate a soothing rustling sound. Furnishings, including the rubbed stainless steel storage bench and planters, were carefully selected to complement the year-round vegetation.

E2 Homes Modern ipe deck and landscape. Landscape and hardscape design by Evergreen Consulting. Architecture by Green Apple Architecture. Decks by Walk on Wood Photos by Harvey Smith

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Cypress wood and bamboo fencing with pedestrian double gate with Wiederweave™ woven wood panels.
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