Foothill Road

On a property that has been in the same family for three generations, the site is home to a grove of coast live oaks and western sycamore, which were preserved through a dramatic site transformation. The land is divided between steeply sloped meadows that encourage wildlife and limit water consumption, and garden plateau for domestic life around a new house designed by Los Angeles architect Michael Palladino.

The drive and entry court sensitively preserve intimate domestic spaces. An entertainment terrace frames a tiled 25-meter pool jutting out over a meadow mix of creeping wild rye, slender veldt grass, berkeley sedge, and is accented with pink muhly, fairy tales fountain grass, and lomandra breeze. A rose garden, kitchen garden for vegetables, and varied fruiting trees furnish the family with with culinary and horticultural abundance.

To manage the movement of water on site, an arroyo planted with ferns, liriope, huechara, iris, and calla lily intercepts and detains runoff from the site’s uppermost elevation to the lowland groves of oaks and olives.