DELORES DEL RIO RESIDENCE GARDEN
Santa Monica Canyon 1985 - present
The house (a Modern/Moderne composition by Cedric Gibbons and Douglas Honnold - 1929) is a collection of interlocking rectangular volumes of highly varied dimensions and proportions. The surfaces of these volumes are rendered in carefully detailed but simple materials of subtly varied textures and colors. The Garden extends this design conceptually throughout the entire site both in the volumetric definition and arrangement of the exterior spaces, and in the plant massing and selection. The Garden is composed of clearly delineated, but interlocking rectangular volumes. These garden rooms are defined by the massing of the buildings, planting, walls, paving, and changes in level. Specific qualities (light and shadow, sense of enclosure, fragrance, etc.) of each landscape form are exaggerated to more clearly differentiate one place from another. Partial views from one place to another are always left open as cues in a choreographed sequence of experiences.