Summer/Murphy & Partners, Inc. is a creative, full service and budget conscious professional landscape planning firm with over 50 years of experience in the business having started in 1964 in West Covina, California and moving south to the coastal town of Dana Point five years later. With a team of 26 professionals, 10 of which are licensed landscape architects, six principal designers and a practiced irrigation design team, their experience includes master planned community design, commercial design, recreational/golf course, resort, hospitality design and residential design, which is about 50% to 60% of their business.

The role of SMP has evolved and expanded over time, calling on them to research, innovate and apply new technologies and changing trends to the design process. Their goal is that the landscape planning component enriches both the beauty, lifestyle and value of the overall project with designs that exist to be seen and enjoyed, to invite and connect, to enliven and sustain, which result through researching, developing and implementing smart, sustainable and saleable solutions that address lifestyle, climate and the land.

After receiving four submissions from the firm which exemplified maximum use of somewhat small residences, LASN interviewed three of the main people in the firm: Pat Murphy, the president and a partner, Rick Hagemeyer, the director of design and V.P. and Mike Mann, a principal, to gather insight into how they achieve their dynamic results.

Interconnectivity
"The design develops itself throughout the whole space rather than being sectionalized," says Hagemeyer. "We often address this in a way that brings the interior out so you don't necessarily think of it as: my inside home, and my yard, because by thinking of it in that way, the yard becomes small in your mind. So what we do is we try to create that seamless edge between the interior and the exterior space so now it's not inside/outside, it is one whole cohesive experience."

"Our philosophy has always been to maximize what space is available based on how the house is plotted," Murphy states. "Often times the developer looks to us to even situate the home and we do that in such a way that it allows us the best opportunity to create expanded spaces outside."

The techniques that SMP employs to bring the interior space out, and conversely, bring the exterior space in, include careful choice of materials, maximizing the amount of visibility and accessibility in and out, and, working closely with the architect and the interior decorator, theming the exterior with the interior so it looks like a unified design.

"Builders will attest that 'any time you can make my home feel bigger, you are doing me a favor,'" Hagemeyer declares.

Three Principles of Design
The first tenet, according to Hagemeyer, is the psychology of the space.

"It's not just what you see but how you feel in the space," he asserts. "So by making the space feel good it doesn't matter how big it is, it doesn't really matter everything you are trying to stuff in there."

The firm focuses lots of attention on components in nature that humans have historically relied on - so much so that it is in our DNA - to be comfortable in our surroundings: components that provide privacy, protection, views, visibility and a sense of defensibility.

"Why is that you feel good under the shade of a tree?" Hagemeyer asks rhetorically. "Why is that you feel good under an overhead structure? Why is it that we feel so good around water and plants? It's because it relates back to what we needed as humans for sustenance."

 
SMP's landscape designs take all of this into account, as well as balance and equilibrium between vertical and horizontal shapes and positive and negative space.

Hagemeyer concludes, "You may not know why you feel good in a space but you do and that is our job to do that."

The second tenet is function and lifestyle. As Hagemeyer explains it, the goal is to not just make a museum piece to look at, the design has to reflect the user, reflect their lifestyle and make them feel "I want to be here, entertain here, recreate here, relax here," so it is his job to provide the elements that draw them into the space.

And last is creating the WOW factor: how they experience that yard the minute they walk in the door and how that affects them emotionally, always looking for ways to create that bang so that they will always be drawn back into that space.

"So those are the three dynamic things that we try to do," relates Hagemeyer. "It is part of the process that we go through to make these spaces dynamic and also make them stand the test of time."

Good Things Come in Small Packages
As to why a lot of their work is on residences with limited space, Murphy cites the price points of land where they do business (he is not only an RLA in California, but also Nevada, Arizona and Idaho).

With land being expensive, the lots tend to be smaller and the homes occupy so much of it.

"With what's remaining, we have to create these environments that feel much bigger," Murphy admits. "It is almost like creating an illusion - how many vertical elements do you put in there versus horizontal and even how the floor material is laid, which transmits that feeling of expansion instead of closure."

He advises to minimize the use of complicated materials because they can "make it feel like your eyes are just dancing around and not really identifying with expansion or horizontal or vertical movement."

Adds Hagemeyer, "If your eye visualizes the space in seconds, it feels small to you because you can register exactly what the dimensions are. So we try to break that up so there is some spatial variety; there are spaces within spaces to create this element of mystery, discovery and drama. It is almost like a journey. It is a process of linked sequential experiences and that helps you make the space, in your mind's eye, feel bigger."

"Quite often people are amazed at how much area we are able to gain from limited space and make it feel bigger than it really is," Murphy states.

Cross-discipline Cooperation
"It is exciting to work with the architect and interior designer because they get excited," enthuses Hagemeyer. "We bring them into the exterior and they work with us in terms of furnishings and how they tie the two together."

He says that it used to be much more territorial but with everyone at the table, there is a cohesive blending of ideas.

"We all communicate, we all work together, very humbly to the point that no one is trying to outdo someone else because at the end of the day, we all know the success is the blending of the professions," Murphy admits.

Hagemeyer points out that it is best to work this way so suggestions are captured as early in the process as possible. This helps prevent the builders from having to "go back and change something or rip something out," which they don't enjoy doing.

And within the firm, cooperation is also key.

Mann breaks down the team roles: "Pat brings in the work, Rick is the creative force coming up with the design and then I oversee a team that puts together construction documents and it's my job to make sure that Rick's vision is carried throughout because as we are in the process of putting the documents together, there are always architect or interior decorator changes and we need to make sure that the integrity of the design is kept up."

Walls get pushed out, windows get changed and different materials get selected. Sometimes new interior materials don't work well outside such as when there is a slip factor to consider around pools and spas. So there is a lot of redesigning in the process to keep that "original vision indoors out," according to Mann.

"And then also, once the project is going into the ground, we make sure that that same vision is still maintained," Mann adds.

He is often onsite to coordinate efforts with the contractors, the homeowners and the builders because there are field decisions to make so oversight is essential.

"Once you lay down hardscape materials you don't want to rip them up because you weren't there," says Murphy.

"And there are little things you don't even think of," Mann throws in. "We go out and spot trees and not only make sure they are in the right place but trees have a good side to them and we want to make sure that they are angled right."

Based on the results, the ample awards and praise those results have garnered and the longevity of the firm, it is clear that SMP's approach to landscape architecture, not only for residences with limited spaces, but all the work they do, is extremely effective.

The company's president unassumingly sums up their successes.

"We don't profess to be better than anyone else and I think our reputation comes from the neat work we've done in all those years. We certainly made a mark on the industry, maybe not as big as some of the very large firms that do the very expansive projects but you might say we hold our own in the industry."

As seen in LASN magazine, February 2020.