Two principal factors generated the design for this garden. The clients had an existing swimming pool which they wanted to fill, but not remove, and one of the two clients is in a debilitated physical state. The said client wished to use the rear garden, although small, for walks. Due to the undsteady gait of the client, there could be no level changes.
The prospect of a filled swimming pool conjured an island in a traditional Japanese garden, which led OCD to consider the idea of a “StrollingGarden,” a staple in any large Japanese garden. Here, a band of the original blond concrete pool decking remains as a reminder of the swimming pool and serves as the client’s strolling path. Around that visual highlights pique the client’s attention away from the center; at the succulent planting installations, the Calder mobile sculpture near the house, and the commanding view of Los Angeles below. Attention is turned away from the center, but it is the grove of trees on a grid pattern that forms the visual anchor from within the house. The trees’ canopies are clipped up to 8 ft. to retain a view to the city beyond.
