Creating a retreat for a family with small children, the project re-envisions a site with an existing home and barn and capitalizes on a view to a pond through mature oaks, with the challenge of transitioning from a central lawn into the surrounding natural landscape. Three new structures—a garage, a main house with two structures connected by an overhead roof plane, and a pool house—are organized around a pastoral view to the existing pond, and make use of adjacent vineyard, grassland, and forest. Circulation from the auto court is oriented through the existing oaks to the main house pavilion. The planting design reinforces a desire to use the lawn as the primary walking surface under the oaks, but replaces high water turf with a native selection requiring less mowing and water. Mulch zones have been created around the oaks to reduce irrigation, preserving them for generations to come. Beyond the lawn, a meadow edge recedes into grassland toward the pond. The notion of grassland is also carried up to the roof of the main house, with glimpses of the grasses from the auto court as well as out of the clerestory windows of the living room.
Stanford West Apartments
SWA has placed a special emphasis on maintaining the riparian corridor with native planting, using consideration when dealing with the archaeologically sensitive areas of the site, as well as existing recreation trails and landscape amenities such as parks and play areas. The internal street grid, architectural and landscape elements are designed to recall the...
Zobon City Villas
SWA provided landscape architectural services for this residential condominium site in Shanghai. The open space layout is comprised of three gardens, each creating a unique environment for the tenants. The Huangpu Abstraction garden is the public face of the project and is expressed with a 2.5m tall stacked glass fountain. The Sky Garden is the center piece of...
Amber Bay
The Amber Bay residential development is located on a beautiful rocky promontory that is among the last available parcels along the Dalian shoreline, southeast of the city center. The project features high-end low density modern style residential development including single family villas, townhouses, and low-rise condominiums; shops and seafood restaurants on...
Chongqing Dongyuan 1891
This unique linear site is sandwiched between the Yangtze River and Nan Mountain. The design concept of the model area that unites a one-kilometer retail/commercial corridor with four high-rise residences is to create the experience of Shangri-La in an urban center. The spatial layout is characterized by a series of courtyards offering different experiences in...