The Southwest Valley’s latest destination for luxury and entertainment, boasts 209 rooms, an expansive 83,000+ sf casino, a state-of-the-art sportsbook, captivating pool deck, and a variety of dining options ranging from casual to fine dining.
There are several distinct entries; the landscape is designed to reflect the character of the surrounding neighborhood and increases in size and magnificence as you approach the property. The main entrance, with its more intimate design, highlights the grandeur of date palms, signature Palo Verde trees, Washingtonia palms, southern live oaks, fan palms, Holly oak, and cork oak. The porte cochere entrance, surrounded by rows of oak trees and date palms, emanates a welcoming, yet sophisticated ambiance.
The east entry island invites guests with date palms and large oaks surrounding a multilevel water fountain, featuring large urns with olive trees and an enticing fire element that illuminates the night with excitement and color.
Moving towards the north entry, guests encounter a landscape adorned with large pines, Palo Verde, and cacti, accompanied by meandering rock groundcover. Pipe organ cacti and sable palms in low planters add a touch of elegance to this carefully curated space.
Durango’s landscape design incorporates mid-century-modern patterned textured walls, creating an upscale atmosphere. To promote water conservation, artificial turf is strategically placed in specific areas. The lush softscape embraces the desert landscape, featuring a variety of textured and flourishing plant material. Notably, 40-foot-tall Pine trees from Siegfried and Roy’s Las Vegas home have found a new home around the pool and parking garage, adding a touch of history and elegance to the surroundings.
A haven of relaxation, the “Bel-Aire Backyard” pool area features a central water feature/fountain, Baja ledge, chaise lounges, and cabanas providing respite from the desert sun. Surrounding the pool, majestic Medjool date palms enhance the atmosphere, creating a tropical oasis. Two poolside bars feature outdoor seating to indulge on thirst-quenching drinks and upscale eats. An adjacent event lawn is ample enough to host large-scale events, with space for a stage for live performances.
Durango takes the indoor/outdoor experience to the next level, offering spill-out patios for the sportsbook and restaurants. The “Eat Your Heart Out” food hall patio garden is adorned with agaves and cobble, creating a serene setting for patrons. Distinct water features at each restaurant patio are designed to complement the architecture, be visually appealing from various angles, and offer diners tranquil sounds. Outside the steakhouse, Nicco’s, the tiered water feature even showcases fire erupting from the fountain.
The country-club inspired George Sportsmen’s Lounge adds an extra layer of entertainment, featuring cornhole, ping-pong, outdoor gaming, and TVs for an immersive experience. Windows from the gaming area provide captivating views of the lush garden environs, seamlessly bringing the outdoors inside and enhancing the overall guest experience.
With its thoughtful design, Durango offers an array of amenities and environments for guests to discover.
Photo credits: Clint Jenkins, and pool photo courtesy of Christopher DeVargas
Casino Mine Ranch is a wonderful Northern California estate vineyard with a rich family history. When we were brought in to design the landscape, we wanted to respect the surrounding natural beauty of rolling hills and vineyards. It was intended to feel purposeful and natural, yet informal. In open areas where traditional shrub planting wasn’t necessary, but a more natural planting feel was desired, we utilized an annual/perennial wildflower hydroseed mix.
The existing Valley Oak tree on the property is several decades old, standing majestically at 75′ tall and over 40′ wide. The surrounding landscape had to complement the tree and keep it as the dramatic focal point of the site.
The pathway leading to the tasting room is adorned with welcoming plantings of rosemary, jasmine, and agaves, surrounded by Coast Live Oak, Crepe Myrtle, Strawberry, and majestic London Plane trees. Adjacent to the tasting room, a spacious artificial turf lawn spanning 5,000 square feet offers a picturesque view of the natural pond, home to water turtles and fish.
We incorporated decomposed granite for the planting and seating areas, utilized natural pavers for pedestrian walkways, and repurposed boulders, stone, and river rock to create sitting walls and planter accents. The challenge was striking a balance between hardscape and softscape, but the use of these natural materials successfully achieved that harmony.
There is also a classic ‘Wine Truck’ parked on the property which acts as another bar to fill patrons’ wine glasses. Ultimately, the design centers around creating several comfortable gathering areas for guests to sit, stand, and enjoy the beautiful surrounding landscape while enjoying a glass of wine.
The expansion to the existing Manhattan Village Mall sets the shopping environment in a garden-like setting with a sophisticated, contemporary, coastal feel.
The heart of the landscape design is the Plaza, or central park area, which acts as the main gathering point of the center, with easy connections to the city streets, parking garages, interior mall, and exterior shopping areas. The Plaza is designed on an inviting and intimate scale while featuring a composition of surrounding retail and restaurant buildings that feel more like a modern interpretation of a classic town square.
The level of detail and layering feels like a seaside residential garden, while coastal waters and the beach inspired the soft, curvilinear lines. Under a bed of artificial turf, sculpted raised ground represents beach sand dunes, softly creating different destinations and experiences. Flat expanses on these low dunes allow warm, sunny inclines for guests to rest on, or slightly elevated seating for seasonal events programmed to take place in the Plaza. Built-in wood benches incorporated into the turf dunes and planting areas create long runs of seating in a variety of areas in the Plaza.
The open, park-like environment doesn’t dictate a formal path where pedestrians should walk but rather allows them to move freely. The planting and water also form smaller seating destinations for multiple uses and seasons (including a fire table for cooler days/nights), that are intimately separate, and still allow for a comfortable, visually open space, with views of the retail shops. Scattered throughout is eclectic pottery in light beige, silver, ocean blues and greys in different textures and finishes, conveying the feeling of a home landscape, and pieces that were acquired and positioned over time.
The movement and visual qualities of water inspired the two fountain designs while creating a variety of highly interactive and sensory experiences for the guest. Both fountains are made from a dark grey, formed-in-place concrete and smooth grey river cobble that gives the water a rich, cool feeling, and lends itself to a reflection of the surroundings.
The brand-new Cedar Avenue, lined with beautiful Pink Lavender Trumpet Trees and 25’ Medjool date palms, borders one end of the Plaza, allowing convenient vehicular and pedestrian circulation through the center, while offering a natural expansion of the Plaza on the weekends. The street can be closed for a variety of programming throughout the year, like farmer’s markets, car shows, and art festivals.
The paving for the exterior spaces creates a harmonious connection with the existing flooring inside the interior mall. Precast concrete linear and block pavers, in a striped grey and beige design, emanate from the mall entrances and flow into the streetscape and across to the Plaza. As the design enters the curving forms of the Plaza, the stripe motif weaves around the space, creating a processional that leads all the way to 33rd Street, further referencing the coast by evoking the idea of a cabana or beach towel stripe. Fields of gridded saw-cut grey and beige concrete complete the scene as the paving turns into the running streetscape along the storefronts.
At the south end of Mule Alley in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards lies the recently opened 200 room, 4-Star Hotel Drover. Majestic Realty Co. gave us the opportunity to create a labyrinth of outdoor spaces: a front courtyard for pre-dinner libations, an outdoor lawn venue that sits adjacent to a rustic event barn, and even a few spots to play cornhole under the well over 125 trees that were brought in from around the country.
The main hotel arrival has a ranch-style entry complete with cattleguard that creates a charming rumble when driven over. Directly outside the front doors, guests are greeted by a giant Antonio Munoz bronze Drover sculpture depicting a cowboy on a horse roping a young longhorn steer that was designed with input from Majestic Realty EVP Craig Cavileer. Keeping a connection with The Stockyards, brick paving spreads throughout the area for a rustic look, while cacti imported from CA flank the front doors.
At the entrance to the front courtyard, we designed a wall fountain complete with corten steel accents and custom-designed hand-painted Spanish tile from California Pottery and Tile. Within the courtyard, we transplanted two giant 40’ tall mature Red Oaks from a field near Houston to create a natural respite from the hot Texas sun. A custom-designed contemporary copper fountain designed in collaboration with Water Studio sits in the center of the courtyard. Extra details, such as custom wood planters with the branded Hotel Drover logo, as well as a neon cowboy, also adorn the front space.
The expansive “Backyard,” bordering the banks of Marine Creek, features an area under string lights that includes three firepits with surrounding seating near a small stage for acoustic live music, as well as an expansive lawn where guests can play various games, such as cornhole. Giant transplanted oak trees, agaves, and large cacti from Southern California accent the area.
Three relic fountains, procured from around the world, adorn the property. One was made from a 500-year old solid limestone water trough imported from a Belgium meadow, a 300-year old limestone fountain from Italy is nestled near the private chef’s table pavilion within the herb garden, and a 10’ tall fountain from France creates a soothing trickling sound near the outdoor dining terrace.
The centerpiece of the entire backyard and pool area is a pre-existing giant oak tree which is now adorned with a hanging pendant light. A wood deck built around the tree provides chaise space for people to relax in the shade. Extra special detail on the custom designed Spanish tile on the pool and spa water line incorporates the Fort Worth Longhorn silhouette. Accent lighting is used throughout, including Restoration Hardware crystal chandeliers in the pool cabanas.
Adjacent to a towering rustic event barn is the gorgeous exterior wedding/event lawn that can comfortably accommodate 380 guests enclosed by 25’ tall Loblolly pine trees along the perimeter, for a sense of exclusion.
Whether you’re a tourist or a local planning a staycation or event, Hotel Drover offers multiple experiences to accommodate even the most discerning guests.
The Plaza Coral Gables is a $700M mixed-use development in the heart of Coral Gables’ central business district and consists of approximately 2.1 million sf of space on three city blocks. The site also houses a historic building that was once the office of the City’s developer, George Merrick, which will be used as Agave Holdings’ new office.
The site design carefully balances the functional, environmental, and pedestrian requirements of its urban setting. Lifescapes was commissioned to provide elegant, distinctive surroundings for a luxury hotel, two office towers, dining, retail, and entertainment space, and approximately 170 residences.
A grand lawn with a large water feature and children’s play area serves as the focal point of the park-like setting. Outdoor eating areas, open lawn for events and lounging as well as numerous seating niches are spread around the project to encourage people to stroll, eat, and enjoy the garden experience. A walking promenade along the retail frontage allows for partially covered passage so visitors can have a unique indoor/outdoor experience. The centerpiece food venue adjacent to the grand lawn invites guests to grab a quick bite and relax along the turf edge. This area also serves as the entertainment hub and will allow the hosting of seasonal events and festivities ranging from small concerts and parties to holiday tree lighting and ice skating.
Central to Los Angeles’ South Bay, The Enclave is a 2.5-acre restaurant-retail center between two commercial towers with 500,000 sf of newly renovated A-class office space. The focus was on adding food, retail, and social offerings to the surrounding neighborhood.
The key to the design was creating functional outdoor spaces. The nearby office tower lobbies were renovated to provide access to the outdoors with retractable walls, allowing fresh air exposure and views of the garden, and in the retail center, restaurants spill out to patios for open-air dining.
Two organic orchards and herb gardens were also added alongside the office buildings, offering seating among citrus trees and herb planters. Tenants can enjoy a fresh orange on their lunch break and take in the sweet-smelling fragrance of the fruit trees.
We created “destinations within destinations” with a variety of options for guests and nearby employees to relax or work outside (made easier by available Wi-Fi and charging stations). Various ground covers throughout the property define spaces and make them feel separate and intimate. Seating has different perspectives, so some people can sit low in reclining chairs, while others can sit at café tables with a higher vantage point. The two fire pits surrounded by colorful, eclectic rocking chairs, bean bags, and Adirondack chairs offer guests an opportunity to enjoy the outdoor experience even on the chillier Southern California evenings.
Multi-functional, flex spaces provide eclectic and fun areas for socialization, games, and meetings. The many recreational activities throughout the property include ping-pong, four-in-a-row, cornhole, and stack and tumble towers. There is also a “conference table” in the plaza where employees can host gatherings.
The design was purposeful in that it wasn’t long and linear, but rather invites exploration. Creative traffic flow allows for nooks and new enticements around every corner.
Several eclectic water features zig-zag throughout the property: one such fountain features repurposed musical instruments as art, another is made from vibrant, colorful cylinders in varying heights, and a third features yellow spheres (reminiscent of The Enclave’s bright yellow logo). The commitment to art is seen all over the property from the colorful elephant wall mural that welcomes guests from the parking lot to an art installation reflecting the Southern California lifestyle (made of surfboards in an array of patterns and colors hanging on the wall near an entrance/exit point).
In addition, inspirational quotes carved into the pavement provide motivation and “Instagrammable moments” as you weave throughout the center.
Photo credit: Patrick Tang