American Society of Landscape Architects ASLA 2006 Professional Awards
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The minimalist landscape compliments the simple, clean lines of the architecture and blurs the division between indoor and outdoor. (Photo by Benny Chan/Fotoworks.)

The outdoor dining room bridges interior and exterior space, while providing a transition between the passive front garden and more active rear garden. (Photo by Benny Chan/Fotoworks.)

The swimming pool is the focus of the rear garden.  The rectangle of blue water echoes the rectangle of green lawn in the front garden. (Photo by Benny Chan/Fotoworks.)

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RESIDENTIAL DESIGN AWARD OF HONOR

Glencoe Residence, Venice, California
Marmol Radziner and Associates, Los Angeles, Calfornia


"What a fun place for a family. Incredibly personal and beautifully done."

— 2006 Professional Awards Jury Comments

Located in a narrow lot in Venice, the design challenge for the residence was to create a series of outdoor rooms that functioned seamlessly with the home’s interior spaces to accommodate the clients’ indoor/outdoor lifestyle.  The landscape design had to achieve this within the confines of a 44’6” x 130’ lot and in harmony with the modern architectural style of the new home.  The result was a minimalist design that features a passive entry garden, outdoor dining room, and active pool area. 

To emphasize the concept that the exterior rooms are full aspects of the home alongside the interior rooms, there is no traditional front door in the main structure; instead, a hidden-entry screen wall on the street is the front door for both the house and garden. The entry garden provides open space for the client’s two young children to play while still being safely removed from the pool.  The outdoor dining room, with its roaring fireplace, connects directly to the kitchen and serves as the central hub for the home, bridging the interior rooms, garden, and pool.

From the project’s inception, the landscape was designed alongside the architecture, since the same firm designed both.  Starting with the early schematic drawing and through the final building and planting, the office’s landscape designer worked closely with the architects to ensure a strong connection between interior and exterior spaces.  The garden emphasizes and integrates the strong lines, restrained material palette, and bold geometry of the architecture.  Additionally the monochromatic plant palette of dark greens compliments with the cool gray of the building.  The geometry of horizontal planes is echoed in the rectilinear lawn, planting areas, and swimming pool.  These similar forms provide evidence of a shared design vocabulary and evoke a sense of connection. 

Project Resources


Furniture Design:
Marmol Radziner Furniture

Pool Construction:
Pinnacle Pool and Spa Construction

Arborist:
Kay Greeley

Landscape Contractor:
Romanos and Coleman Landscape

 

The exterior fireplace anchors the outdoor dining room, and its glow can been seen from throughout the home. (Photo by John Ellis.)

The hidden entry gate serves as the front door for both house and garden.  It spans between the “green walls” of Prunus caroliniana that provide a soft yet private enclosure for the site.(Photo by John Ellis.)
The 5,785 square-foot lot is divided equally longitudinally and laterally between architecture and landscape, passive garden and active garden.  The outdoor dining room, the only element existing in all quadrants, physically ties the site together and creates a balanced composition. (Image courtesy of Marmol Radziner and Associates.
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