Urban Green Landscape Architect
San Diego

Principle landscape architect Michael Brennan, ASLA, LEED AP launched Urban Green in 2009 to do sustainable landscape design. He led the design and installation of a sustainable showcase garden in Scripps Ranch. His Del Mar residential design will be one of the ASLA Meeting field sessions (“The Western Edge: Current Trends in Modern Residential Design”), with Michael as a guest speaker. His latest work includes multiple projects for the UCSD campus, and a La Jolla home slated for LEED certification.

Special Event Site, Alpine, Calif.
The challenge: Design a one-acre hilltop with large boulders into an event space. The rocks became a two-sided waterfall. A monumental entry trellis leads visitors through the garden and a series of patio spaces with a connecting trail loop. The design fuses rugged California native plants with hardy Mediterranean species. There’s a contemporary agave garden, elevated fire pit and stone patio with 360-degree views. Undulating earth forms (berms and streambeds), are carved out of the flat site. An olive tree-line entry promenade, native rock walls, fabricated COR-TEN steel design elements and a solid flagstone bridge are other elements.

Mid-Century Modern, Mission Hills
The landscape plan for this 1952 home designed by San Diego architect Lloyd Ruocco had the collaboration of landscape architect Chris Gustard. Sweeping stairs and stonewalls traverse a landscape of mature trees. Accents of natural stone, boulders and raised KOR-TEN garden beds complement the succulents and grass mixes. The DG pathways culminate in a raised stone planter focused on a copper kinetic wind sculpture.
Photo: John Durant Photography