ARROYO SECO COMPOUND
San Marino, CA
Situated on a sprawling hillside property near the historic Arroyo Seco, the mid-century house designed by Calvin Straub was the starting point for an extended dialogue between landscape and architecture. The site was re-imagined to support a multi-layered residential compound fanning out from the pinwheel-plan house to occupy and unify the entire parcel – the ultimate expression of mid-century indoor-outdoor living.
Key to a landscape design of such scope was water conservation. Permeable surfaces were favored to capture precipitation, and a palette of drought tolerant native, subtropical, and Mediterranean plantings was artfully selected to emulate and expand on the indigenous landscape. Dense stands of native oaks and redwoods around the site were a central feature of the plan.
Design Team:
Elysian Landscapes
Buff, Straub & Hensman, Architects, 1953
Fung + Blatt Architects
Plain Air
Designed and built: 2011–2016
Area: 1.2 acres