Landscapes Unlimited

Project Details

Project Description

FROM THE ARCHITECTS:

The program called for a modest office and storage facility for a residential design/build landscape company. The charge called for a simple structure that should be built on a modest budget, providing offices for management, field personnel, and a connected storage facility for equipment. The undeveloped natural site offered street frontage visibility along a natural creek. The owners sought to celebrate the nature of the company’s landscaping design culture through creative use of simple, natural materials to reinforce its philosophy with its customers. Further, the owner sought to employ sustainable principals, including natural cladding materials to relate to the site, a planted roof, daylighting and sun control through expansive windows and overhangs, and stormwater collection to employ rainwater for its on-site irrigation of nursery stock.

Solution: The building is sited to provide an edge to the street and highlight the functional office entry. The operational aspects are largely concealed from public view as the building serves to buffer the street from the excavated service court. The offices are provided with generous south facing windows, shaded by the roof overhang that drops water to a raingarden, and capturing natural light as well as views to the natural conservation area.

The building roof lines provide appropriate visual height as the building is dug into the hillside and direct all roof water to the irrigation cistern. A planted roof will be installed on the office roof. Natural cladding materials serve as a backdrop for the enhanced landscaping in the public yards.