landscaping

The house was designed with Passive House strategies, including a highly energy-efficient, over-insulated building envelope; a high-efficiency heat pump for heating and cooling paired with an ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator); and a substantial 17.2kW photovoltaic (PV) array.

Some examples of “Dutch Wave” planting in Piet Oudolf’s garden in Hummelo (2018) and in the Vlinderhof (butterfly garden) in Máximapark in Utrecht.

The repetition as seen here, on either side of the hardscaped path, packs a visual punch, without being too complicated.

In 2020, Isabel and David Yahng bought their Portland house, which was originally designed by architect Saul Zaik in 1963.

The rock outcropping in the backyard of this house in Victoria, British Columbia influenced the design scheme of the home's addition. To visually integrate the form, architect Bruce Greenway took shorn-off pieces of rock and constructed a curving wall that extends into the house.

Jikkō-in is a small temple near the Sanzen-in Temple in Ōhara, Kyoto. The peaceful grounds include the Keishin-en Garden, which was designed to incorporate "borrowed scenery" from the mountains across the valley.

The view from the courtyard at the Casita, added in 2020.

The couple used pre-cast concrete pavers for the hardscaping, as they were "more economical than cast-in-place concrete,

The team dug down two feet in the basement to add ceiling height and remodel while staying within the footprint of the house. “Without doing an addition, we could more than double the square footage in the house,” says Jake. A concrete bench topped with wood runs sixty-five feet along the perimeter of the room, and serves as a useful bench.

The group continued the weathered steel elements throughout the landscape, designed by friend Catherine Howell, such as in the planter beds at the “afternoon” patio, which faces West.

Katie and Bruce love color, which they injected into almost every room. Built-in furniture in the primary bedroom is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Enchanted Forest, and cabinetry in the closet is covered in greenish-yellow Dark Linen, also from Benjamin Moore.

With input from her clients, Barensfeld used a computer to generate the circular patterns that were carved into a pair of Cor-Ten steel screens with a water-jet cutter. The perforations allow light and the green of the surrounding Koi bamboo to filter into the space while preserving privacy.

A maple tree grows through an ipe deck in this garden that Mary Barensfeld designed for a family in Berkeley, California. A reflecting pool separates it from a granite patio, which is furnished with a Petal dining table by Richard Schultz and chairs by Mario Bellini. The 1,150-square-foot garden serves as an elegant transition from the couple’s 1964 Japanese-style town house to a small, elevated terrace with views of San Francisco Bay. Filigreed Cor-Ten steel fence screens—perforated with a water-jet cutter to cast dappled shadows on a bench and the ground below—and zigzagging board-formed concrete retaining walls are examples.

A stepped concrete garden planted with herbs and flowers marks the descent to the house. The courtyard is the focal point of the U-shaped structure; there is clear visibility between the kitchen on one side and the children's bedrooms on the other.

Gable in the front, party in the back. The designers preserved the facade of the original craftsman bungalow and added a new entry sequence, stairs, and porch surface.

At the ranch of Nancy and Tony Lilly in the hills of Sonoma, an area plagued by drought and fires, landscape designer John Greenlee struck a balance between beauty and resiliency with a water-wise meadow-garden.

New concrete pathways, all built by Jake and Antony, are arranged around an artful tool shed, which has a weathered steel wall punched with a pattern from the Faroe Islands in Denmark, where Sigrid is from. “That was a nod to Sigrid’s heritage,” says Bassett. The shed also acts as a privacy screen for the patio below it.