The stone-clad building on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, California is a triumph in an area where development has been almost non-existent over the past two decades. Due largely to a graceful landscape design, one may not immediately notice the stunning edifice. The credo behind 701 Ocean Avenue - to provide its residents with state-of-the-art, luxury living in an unpretentious manner - is the first impression one gets from the oceanside avenue. It's an impression that was worth a second try . . . with a second Landscape Architect.

After nearly ten years of development, with a complete set of City-approved landscape plans in hand, another owner might not have gone the extra mile. But Edwards Properties' Mary Chan was committed to achieving the grand concept envisioned for the prestigious condominiums that range in price from $500,000 to $2.75 million. When the design team's comments that the first landscape design did not correspond with the high-scale architecture or deliver the desired ambience, Edwards Properties was prompted to seek another Landscape Architect.

Emmet L. Wemple & Associates was called in to render a redesign that would live up to the singular expectations for the project. With an open-minded approach which allowed for innovation and creativity, Wemple and his team overcame the aesthetic and practical design challenges of extremely shallow soil depths, waterproofing requirements, and strict city xeriscape codes. Particularly on the 17,000-square-foot rooftop, where many structural and environmental factors limited the landscape possibilities, the resulting flexibility of design ultimately contributes to the warmth and charm of the Mediterranean style grounds and creates the atmosphere of casual resort living. Notably, their site-specific concept takes greater advantage of the site's attributes than the plan originally approved by the City and, despite being a resubmittal, garnered high praise from the Santa Monica Architectural Review Board.

Because the only "signatures" associated with the landscape design that Wemple and his team of Marcia Babalas, Derrik Eichelberger, and David Sabunas created are site specific, 701 Ocean Avenue makes a statement entirely its own. According to Babalas, Wemple & Associates' seminal idea "to play up what Santa Monica is all about" led to a design that integrates 360-degree views of the ocean, mountains, and city with the Mediterranean resort theme of the new architecture and the historic aspects of the site - originally the location of bungalows and courtyards popularized by John Parkinson in the 1920's, 30's, and 40's.

The landscape architectural team consciously preserved the history of the landmark site, aiming for consistency and harmony with the Santa Monica community. For instance, the ground level landscape design illustrates the team's effort to maintain continuity with the community and the building's heritage even though strict city xeriscape codes presented distinct renovation challenges. The surrounding ground floor Parterre gardens on the west side and the low, clipped English-style gardens on the north side replicate the site's original landscape design, anchoring the project in community history. These traditional garden patterns also provide a magnificent view from the rather unconventional rooftop.

Offering a retreat 40 feet above ground, a colorful Mediterranean terrace garden weaves through the private reading area, the open space patio, and the magnificent pool area on the rooftop. Though the plant palette appears colorful and lush, it is extremely drought and salt tolerant, as is consistent with Santa Monica's new planting requirements. Such flowering plants as lavender, rosemary, echium, scaevola, geranium, and convulvus and the stately jacarandas purposely emulate the colors of the sand, sea and sky, while rose vines and citrus trees grace chimneys and roof ducts and soften the intrusions of otherwise obtrusive utilities.

Protruding chimneys, cumbersome light wells and roof ducts are just some of the numerous challenges that threatened to disrupt the magnificent rooftop experience. However, the Landscape Architects effectively utilized rooftop structures to create "partitions" that softly section off the three distinctive areas, enabling residents privacy throughout. Obscured by lush vegetation that mitigates their utilitarian nature, these necessary structures ultimately serve to enhance the rooftop, adding dimension, shape and color to the landscape design.

Design of a support system for the rooftop plantings may have been the the most complex project challenge. Due to structural load factors which limited all rooftop planters to a maximum of 80 lbs. per square foot, shallow customized fiberglass tubs were selected, often with odd-shaped liners to allow the plants to grow to their optimal size though limited to specific soil depths to 12 to 24 inches. With water supply also limited by xeriscape mandates, drip and emitter irrigation systems for the network of fiberglass planters and the newly designed Mona system for freestanding planters containing the jacaranda and citrus trees were specified. These irrigation methods reduced the amount of water used in general and, accordingly, the weight of water in the planters, yet did not eliminate waterproofing as an issue. The fiberglass tubs were consequently also customized with a state-of-the-art waterproofing system to ensure against any leakage from retained water or irrigation from the roof.

When structural and environmental codes also posed threats to the terrace aesthetics, the design team again incorporated problemsolving concepts into the comprehensive design scheme. Most dramatically, for the required handicapped access ramp leading to the pool area, a wall of planters abounding with lush purple scaevola was created to serve as a beautiful alternative to a strictly utilitarian structure. In keeping with the "partition" design motif, the handicapped access ramp also effectively sets the pool area apart, creating maximum privacy for the intimate setting of the quieter areas, while the vivid rows of color leading to the pool create the feeling of a Mediterranean resort.

Other design solutions related to the position of various units-like shielding penthouse residents from noise and creating "patio balconies" as amentities for ground-floor occupants-demonstrate the team's approach to accommodating community, aesthetic, and technical factors while maintaining design continuity with all other consultants involved. Emmet L. Wemple & Associates may have been the last consultants to have been brought in on the project, but the view from high or low indicates they had the last word. LASN