The Plan for this historic 1920s home and gardens created a vision for expanded gardens on a topographically varied 8-acre hilltop site overlooking Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. The design implemented thematic spaces that transition from formal to natural as the site descends the hillside. The formal garden rooms are organized along a central axis to support intuitive and efficient connections. The design replaced the existing lawn and water-intensive gardens with diverse plantings of native and naturalized species, creating horticultural variety and unique spaces to be enjoyed throughout the seasons. The landscape forms a close dialogue with the architecture and existing conditions, responds to external viewsheds, and sites two large sculptures: one viewed from above and framed by a backdrop of Arbutus trees, the other an immersive field of blue orbs set in a grove of ancient olive trees.
The site design incorporates a system of rain gardens and water storage tanks to capture stormwater runoff. These functional elements of the design are integrated into the composed fabric of service access, maintenance and greenhouse buildings, and vegetable gardens as well as the tennis court, pool terrace, and yoga pavilion.
