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All Photos/outdoor/locations : front yard/landscapes : walkways

Outdoor Front Yard Walkways Design Photos and Ideas

A 1954 home by Calvin Straub is the centerpiece of a San Marino property developed by Alice Fung and Michael Blatt of Fung + Blatt. Working with the architects, Elysian Landscapes oversaw the design of the gardens.
Another move that reduces the house's environmental impact is the inclusion of photovoltaic panels on the roof. The panels generate enough energy to offset 95% of the house’s consumption.
According to the homeowners, one concession they made to save money was downgrading the exterior retaining wall from a gabion retaining wall to native limestone blocks.
A white gravel allée leads to Onur and Alix Kece’s weekend retreat an hour outside Paris. The couple, a pair of creatives, oversaw the renovation of the long-neglected 1892 structure themselves, with Onur designing the living spaces and built-ins and Alix responsible for everything else. “We were looking for something that was in bad shape, a place we could completely tear apart and renovate from scratch,” says Onur.
Their daughters, Annapurna, left, and Siddartha, play with their dog, Anouck, beneath the kangaroo paws in the entry garden courtyard.
These projects cleverly address issues ranging from affordable housing to building sustainably in the face of climate change.
An exterior shot of the hillside residence offers a glimpse of the property's spectacular vistas.
The garden path, lined with potted citrus and towering eucalyptus trees, leads from the carport to the deck and front door.
Photo: Willem-Dirk du Toit
The decorative screen casts playful shadows across the front terrace.
The new front door, offset by a stained wood surround, leads into an entry vestibule that connects the guest wing with the rest of the house.
Now, decorative screens "provide dappled western shade and frame the view of the monumental chimney from the street," says the firm.
New front steps lead up to a front terrace.
Outside the entrance is an impressive hoja santa, or Mexican pepperleaf, plant. “We weren’t sure it would like the shade, but it has become this incredible thing,” says designer Kevin Alter.
The Pemberton Residence in Austin, Texas, was designed by local firm Alterstudio with inspiration from California modernist design.
The living room opens to the private, walled exterior courtyard at the front. “I really love the design of the courtyard and the fact that you can see it from everywhere in the house,” notes Fox. The ottoman is from Jardan and the outdoor chair is Hay.
A new set of concrete steps lead up to the main entrance. The steep site and power lines obstructed crane access, so the home’s enormous windows, trees, and even a one-ton marble dining table had to be carried in by hand.
"We wanted the pavilion to be freestanding and to have minimal columns, so using CLT, which can span a long distance without support, made sense,” explains resident Anyeley Hallová.
Inside the enclosed front courtyard, a deck extends off main entrance. The exterior is covered in dark gray stucco, which contrasts with the deck cladding.
Of the home’s rustic feel, Ben (here with the family dog, Hawkeye) says, “I grew up in Maine, and I wanted the cabin to feel like a camp.”
“The covered walkway was very important, because how the view is revealed can be either mundane or thrilling,” adds Cutler.
The main entrance is reached via a covered pathway constructed of cross-laminated timber with cedar infill walls. “The idea was to shield the view until you go through the compressive experience of the entry walk,” says architect James Cutler. “Then, beyond the front door, there are two stories of glass looking straight out at the ocean.”
A hanging bell made from an air tank with the bottom sliced off sits on the path from the parking field.
Transparent walls and Japanese design cues define this renovated home in an Austin suburb.
Another one of Panorama Glass Lodge Iceland’s stargazing cabins is just a quick 30-minute drive from Reykjavík at Hvalfjörður (Whale Fjord). The glass-encased vacation rental includes a hot tub, so you can take your stargazing outside.
With its driveway to the north, the home faces west toward the Pacific, with its courtyard breaking up the house's mass.
Residents Silas Munro and Bill Hildebrand stand outside their home with their two Viszlas, Niko and Jordy.
Joel Bell, Onna Ehrlich-Bell, and their son (pictured) stand outside the second home to be renovated.
Richard Shelton and Kali Nikitas (pictured), the first of the new residents to arrive on the scene, sit with their rescued poodles, Ravi and Lucky. “The houses were meant to be lived in by the average person. No one expects grandeur. People appreciate the details,” notes Nikitas.
Castaños House by Arch. Ekaterina Kunzel & Arch. María Belén García Bottazzini
Castaños House by Arch. Ekaterina Kunzel & Arch. María Belén García Bottazzini
A front garden creates a moment of pause. "The lower front window has a two-inch-thick box going around it," says Martin. "It was a solution to enhance the kitchen window, bypassing the corner of the facade and the column it contained." This would enlarge the second kitchen counter inside, where the stove is placed.
The relationship between the house and the circular grass lawn is key to the way the home sits in the landscape. Architect Belinda George gave much consideration to the way the steps lead up to the deck.
The home features more covered deck space than interior living space, evoking a feeling of living in the landscape.
A screen divides an entry porch from the first of several private courtyards and outdoor areas. The home is clad in ebony-stained cedar siding, which contrasts with mahogany casework.
A gravel trail winds through greenery into the entryway of the home, reinforcing the parklike nature of the site.
The water is then pumped to a bucket shower on the river.
Sustainable building practices were key to the cottage’s rebirth. The home’s green roof system consists of a vinyl membrane topped with small trays filled with ferns and mosses from the nearby Columbia River Gorge.
In the landscaped front garden, a cobblestone walkway wraps around a Japanese tree preserved on the site during construction. The tree adds beauty, shading, and privacy.
FabrikG architects Gonzalo Elizarraras and Manu Ponte designed Hawks Nest House to be symbiotic with the landscape of Baja California.
This off-grid residence by FabrikG is finely tuned to its seaside locale to regulate temperature.
The siding slides into the Louvre system and create a magical presence throughout the course of the day, but was quite the challenge to install as no contractors in the area had ever worked with it before. "We had the factory pre-cut and pre-drill every piece so the whole house basically came pre-packaged."
"California, South Africa, and New Zealand actually all have very similar climates so a lot of the planting we see is a mixture of those three zones," Kurrel notes.
Two parallel pitches expose the central living/dining room to outside air via sliding glass doors. The low openings give the impression of a tent that’s been propped up to reveal what’s going on inside.
"The client’s goals were to create an open and light-filled home that maximized views of the Coachella Valley below and the Santa Rosa mountains to the south and west," says designer Stuart Silk Architects. Thunderbird Heights Residence enjoys a fluid connection between the primary indoor rooms and the outdoor terraces both for entertaining and casual outdoor living.
The entry gate now functions as the front door to the residence. The front courtyard doubles as the garage. On the left, the gray roof of the veranda flows downward to obscure the functional spaces behind it, including wash rooms and a service room.
007 House by Dick Clark + Associates
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