The Commercial/Retail Issue of Landscape Architect & Specifier News saw many firms submit their projects for feature consideration. This project was not chosen for a Feature in the issue, but we at LandscapeArchitect.com thought the project deserved to be showcased online . . .

Modern simplicity, repetition, elegance, and timelessness were the key themes inspiring the landscape for Duchateau, located in the Miramar neighborhood of San Diego. The building's striking, bold silhouette demanded an equally bold landscape narrative that complimented its simple and clean, yet elegant, lines. The plant palette needed to reflect the building's character without taking away from it. Composed mostly of sculptural succulents, the plant palette provides visually striking forms while also being very drought tolerant.

 
Arriving to the Duchateau by road, drivers arriving or passing by will immediately be greeted by the first visually striking elements of the parking lot landscape, a row of large Tequila Agave (Agave tequiliana) on a slick, black, steel retaining wall lining the street. The striking forms of the large agaves provide drama in the day with their shadows and at night as up-lit specimens. Below the retaining wall, the tequila agaves are complimented by alternating groups of Golden Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus grusonii) and Agave 'Blue Glow' (Agave attenuate x Agave ocahui). While the Blue Glows mimic the Tequila Agaves in stunning form and color, the Golden Barrel Cacti provide a stunning contrast of glowing yellow with their curved spines, almost seeming to emit their own light under the right lighting at dawn.

Entering the parking lot gives visitors views of more mass planting and repetition, with a long, double row of Golden Barrel Cacti being used in mass as a foreground shrub in the planter in front of the building. Contrasting with the Golden Barrels is a double row of Variegated Caribbean Agave (Agave angustifolia 'Marginata'), again mimicking the striking form and outline of the tequila and Blue Glow agaves but with leaves of light green edged in cream, providing a light contrast with the dark hedge of Dwarf Yeddo Hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis umbellate) minor behind it, and the bold dark building behind that. Each row of shrub provides different contrasts of light or shadow, brightness or darkness, rigidity or softness.

To the side of building is an enclosed patio screened by a fence made of laser-cut steel panels. The panels' white-painted surface contrast with the building's black exterior. The cut design on the panels mimics the building's fa??ade with panels of angled boards. The fence itself is composed of two panels on each side of tube steel posts, creating overlapping patterns that allow light to pass through at different angles and create dynamic shadows. The planting surrounding the exterior of the fence continues the drought-tolerant succulent theme, using Aloe 'Always Red' (Aloe hybrida 'Always Red') to provide structural foliage with the grace of red blooms in winter.

Inside the patio, a pair of Strawberry trees (Arbutus 'Marina') provide shade in a wood deck patio, bordered by a simple single layer of African Iris (Dietes bicolor). The main focal point of the patio is the greenwall installed by Instant Jungle. Rather than planted unnaturally parallel to the earth, as with typical greenwalls, the plants are planted in trays and allowed to cascade, allowing for healthier plants and longevity. The green wall here serves as an art piece, providing a splash of various colors and textures using plants like Asparagus Fern (Asparagus densiflorus), Spider Plant (Chlorophyum comosum), Purple Heart (Tradescantia pallida 'Purple Heart'), Blue Chalksticks (Senecio mandraliscae), and Aeonium 'Sunburst' (Aeonium decorum 'Sunburst').


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