ATOMIC COLONY of Futura House

Restoring Mid Century Modern (MidMod) History ~ One Building at a Time.

  • Home
  • Vision
  • History
  • Services
  • Projects
  • Restorations
  • Landscape
  • Other
  • Projects – Landscape
  • Ayita Circle
  • Bagua House
  • Caddyshack Pool
  • Caddyshack Front
  • Chippewa
  • DHS Hotel and Pool
  • El Ranchito Vegas
  • Fickett House – Landscape
  • Fleur de Lis
  • Foster Residence Hardscape
  • Foster Residence Back and Pool
  • Foster Residence Atrium
  • Glen Heathen Estate
  • Hale Mala
  • Lennox Home
  • Olivaire
  • Pistachio Palms
  • Purple Rain Zen Garden
  • Purple Rain Front
  • SDR House
  • Suburban Homestead
  • Twin Tikis
Home > Projects – All > Foster Residence – Landscape Front

Foster Residence – Landscape Front

Foster Residence, Granada Hills, CA – Front Yard Landscape and Hardscape

CLIENT: self

The front hardscape and landscape of this house did not due justice to the outstanding architecture.  To approach the house, the only way in was up a fairly steep driveway. Good luck doing this walk in high heels. There were no stairs or steps or anything to give the feeling of an entrance.

So the first step was simply trimming back to see what plants actually were there and see the lay of the land.

EICHLER FRONT BEFORE - best picture house

Next a temporary Master Plan was in put in place to remove the overwhelming juniper bushes that had taken over the entire front yard. Some 3D initial studies were done in clay and foam core to better understand the slope and what retaining walls would be needed to provide improved planting areas.

We lived with some simple colorful African daisies for a year or so…

plan house2

model1 housemodel4 house-model2

The huge fir tree on the far side of the yard with roots taking over and needles making the yard too acidic to grow anything was eventually removed and was replaced with a deciduous yellow leafed Ash Tree. Because we had been dealing with water infiltration into the subterranean HVAC system, we made sure there was no planting or irrigation immediately next to the facade. A nice undulating curve served nicely, paired with classic 1960s style round pebble pavers. This was a move straight out of the master landscaper, Garrett Eckbo, playbook! Eventually at the top of the hill Zoya grass was planted between these round pebble pavers.

front-tree front-steps front-dump dumpster

Eventually everything went away in order to make way for the new improved Ultra Modern front landscape… We also hauled away at least 2-3 giant dumpsters filled to the brim with excess soil. The neighbors were understandably a bit concerned during this period…

DSC00003 MM and the chainsaw! front-farleft front-left front-leftfromdrive front-right

Stairs!

Then the actual plans began to take shape! First via 2D drawings, then onto 3D scale models of different stairway impositions. Then with 3D projections of the improvements against the actual land.

Eichler Front Yard Planting guide2Eichler Front Yard Planting guide1

 

model12 model1 stairs_final model11 Eichler Front Yard Planting guide3 space_eichler4

Then onto final engineering diagrams with detailed elevations and measurements for the concrete forms. This was an incredibly intricate and demanding form and pour job for these guys and they did a fabulous job!!!

eichlersteps_final3  eichlersteps_final2  eichlersteps_final4

steps01 steps02 stairs-01 stairs-02 steps11 stairs-03 steps14 stairsforpaul03a house-stairs1 house-stairsleft stairsforpaul05a

And the final look…

space_eichler6 front1 x marvinrand_outside Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #848

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Social

  • View atomiccolony’s profile on Facebook
  • View GottaLottaLivin’s profile on Twitter
  • View lottaliving’s profile on Pinterest
  • View UChWUty9IfFv-J3av1VeCdRg’s profile on YouTube
  • Home
  • Vision
  • History
  • Services
  • WholeWay Home
  • Awards
  • Projects – Home Restorations
  • Ayita Circle
  • Bagua House
  • Caddyshack
  • El Ranchito Vegas
  • Foster Residence
  • Fickett House
  • Glen Heathen Estate
  • Gayley Terrace
  • Hale Mala
  • Lennox Home
  • Luxe Life
  • Olivaire Front
  • Olivaire Back
  • Pistachio Palms Front
  • Pistachio Palms Middle
  • Pistachio Palms Studio
  • Purple Rain
  • River Run
  • Small Spaces
  • Sullivan Guest Room
  • Tiki Taj Mahal
  • Projects – Landscape
  • Ayita Circle
  • Bagua House
  • Caddyshack Pool
  • Caddyshack Front
  • Chippewa
  • DHS Hotel and Pool
  • El Ranchito Vegas
  • Fickett House – Landscape
  • Fleur de Lis
  • Foster Residence Hardscape
  • Foster Residence Back and Pool
  • Foster Residence Atrium
  • Glen Heathen Estate
  • Hale Mala
  • Lennox Home
  • Olivaire
  • Pistachio Palms
  • Purple Rain Zen Garden
  • Purple Rain Front
  • SDR House
  • Suburban Homestead
  • Twin Tikis

© 1996-2017 mm stratton all rights reserved. There is a possibility of text or images used on this site that belong to others. No copyright infringement is implied. These are shared to help educate readers. If you have found anything on this site that needs to be fixed, credited or removed, please contact me.
Website produced by HOMECAMP
Design and writing by meg-o-rama

Copyright © 2023 · Diligent on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in