Surfview Residence
When landscape architecture firm Terry Design was brought on to this residential project in Pacific Palisades, California, the homeowners had one small design request: Create drama and color at the front entry. With initial plans to modify an existing fountain in the front of the home, after walking around the residence and bonding with the owner over a shared love of succulents, the project scope grew. Primarily residing in Florida, with its planting limitations due to the wet climate, the homeowner was delighted to remove all the lawn and replace it with succulents and California natives.
The new project scope included providing strategic shade structures for cooking and dining, recapturing a large section of the hillside and incorporating it into the overall design, providing privacy and security with an automatic gate, and making subtle changes to the hardscape to blend it with the mid-century modern architecture of the house.
The site is wedged in on a cut/fill lot with high visibility from uphill neighbors and downslope to rooftops below with a peek-a-boo view of the ocean from its foothill location. Allowing the Landscape Architects to think creatively and proceed with the design and implementation in a linear fashion with minimal redesign made this project special. The clients made their desires and preferences known up front and the design team used that as guiding principles throughout the entire project.
In the front entry of the home, a perimeter overflow fountain was installed that is bold in color and form, but subtle in sound. The design team proposed the idea to include blown glass sculptures even before the owner expressed a love of blown glass and Chihuly glass sculptures, resulting in an immediate feeling that the team "understood" the client. The team was then tasked with finding a glassblowing studio willing to take on the design, and the research and trials necessary. Working closely with Seattle Glassblowing, the colors and shapes for the five custom glass flame sculptures were developed. The entire entry alcove is covered in a gradation of glass tile to create a sense of expanded space and intrigue from the street. The freeform glass sculptures in complementary orange and yellow tones are uplit and downlit at night with can lights installed in the wood ceiling above and LED dimmable lights below the water. The elevated platform where the sculptures are placed is covered with a custom swirl pattern tile meant to mimic water eddies, and water movement is created by a stainless steel standpipe set behind the concrete platform.
As seen in LASN magazine, February 2021.