Rustic Canyon Viewing Garden

Located in Santa Monica's coveted Rustic Canyon enclave, the main objective of this project was to double the home's footprint, through the design of a series of fully functioning outdoor spaces that include a proper dining room, living room, viewing den, meditative garden, and outdoor shower... All conducive to socially-distanced entertaining so beneficial in our Covid-era.

We turned a steep slope (often thought to be unusable) between the upper and lower gardens to our advantage, by creating a rich experiential journey along a stairway that features an unfolding series of lovely viewpoints along the path, as well as a beautiful visual when viewed from windows looking down to the slope from the second floor of the house.

In keeping with a philosophy and aesthetic signature that we carry through many of our projects, this project is a celebration of native California plants.  As you ascend from the upper deck to the lower garden, you pass through a lively mix of low water plantings that are a magnet for hummingbirds and butterflies.

We are sensitive to site appropriate design and are highly knowledgeable about sustainable landscape practices including drought tolerant planting, low water-use irrigation, low impact development and responsible paving approaches, water reclamation methods and systems, organic gardening and green roof design. We have designed landscapes in cities across California that have stringent standards for drought tolerant design.

We bring gardens to life through an on-going dialogue and an iterative design process with our clients and collaborators and ultimately, seek to effectively translate visual inspiration into built form and elevate the experience of the garden.