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.
Fort Worth Stockyards is a public/private partnership with the City to redevelop 70 acres of the historic destination where the visitors can experience an authentic glimpse into the American West. The longhorn cattle drives still take place twice daily for guests to enjoy.
One of the most popular attractions in Texas, the Stockyards includes 190,000 sf of historic horse and mule barns with existing brick facades, dramatic soaring interiors; carefully curated retail stores and restaurants, outdoor patios, and private dining rooms with sweeping views. BBQ joints, brewpubs, and live music venues. Mule Alley has been transformed into a vibrant entertainment district and streetscape unlike any other in the DFW market.
The “Legacy of Color” sculpture was refurbished and moved from American Paint Horse Assoc. headquarters to its new location, welcoming guests on Mule Alley.
Rustic paving of Thurber brick lies under the vehicular traffic, while pedestrian paving is custom patterns of brick and stone. Lush softscape materials comprise a dozen specimen Live Oak Trees and thirteen 25’ “Autumn Blaze” Maple Trees that line Mule Alley as well as Star Jasmine, variegated flax lily, Nellie R. Stevens holly, Breeze Dwarf Mat Rush, caramel coral bells, lime coral bells, and Furman’s red Texas sage.
At the end of Mule Alley is Hotel Drover Autograph Collection, celebrating the best of Texas hospitality.
Nestled in the heart of Guangzhou, the GT Land Olympic Mall has undergone a transformative redesign, reimagining its decades-old multi-level interior retail space into a dynamic, tropical oasis. This 200-meter-long by 65-meter-wide central corridor now captivates visitors with a lush and flowing environment, where architecture and landscape seamlessly intertwine to redefine the shopping experience.
Collaborating closely with the project’s architects, we strategically cut away sections of the original floors to create better connectivity, dynamic sightlines, and invite more natural light into the space. This bold approach opened up the mall’s core, offering an inviting and airy atmosphere. To further break the rigidity of the original design, we incorporated undulating lines and organic forms into the architecture and landscape, evoking the natural movement of rippling water.
This fluidity extends to every element of the mall’s redesign. Meandering pathways guide visitors through a vibrant tropical garden, where tiered, stone-clad seating evokes the impression of earth shaped by flowing water. These seating forms not only provide social destinations but also establish a connection to the natural world, reinforced by the cascading greenery and fountains that animate the gardens.
The interplay of nature and design continues with intimate seating areas, nature-inspired play zones, pop-up retail opportunities, and a lively food hall. A 35-meter diameter rotunda anchors the central space, surrounded by mature palms and trees that shade a patterned grey granite plaza. At its heart, a raised dancing water fountain doubles as a focal point and a stage for events, making it a vibrant hub of activity.
Adding a vertical dimension to the experience, a striking three-level ‘birdcage’ structure overlooks the rotunda. Each level offers a unique destination: a floor-to-ceiling aquarium, a live bird enclosure, and an overlook bar that provides unparalleled views of the lush environment below. Along the cut-out retail levels, sculptural seating ‘nests’ and decorative ‘birdcages’ serve as both visual draws and inviting retreats for shoppers.
Every element of the planting design was carefully curated to thrive under the existing skylights and windows. Structural columns were transformed into ‘tree trunks,’ enveloped in green wall plantings of live shrubs and accented by decorative metal branch planters that spiral upward with cascading greenery. These innovative features enhance the feeling of walking beneath a layered tree canopy, blurring the boundaries between the built and natural worlds.
The newly expanded shopping center in San Mateo is home to 120 dining, restaurant, and retail choices.
The outdoors is an extension of the indoor mall, designed as an all-season entertainment space. The multi-purpose, large garden-like setting has places to sit and socialize, play, eat in cozy terraces, and stroll along the garden path and grand lawn.
The project’s commitment to art is evident throughout. There is a large rock, art “sculpture garden” installation carved by artist, Ken Hiratsuka, who designed the space for kids and adults to explore. Beniamino Bufano sculptures are also sprinkled throughout the shopping center.
Intended to be its own art piece, the heart of the project is the spectacular, choreographed water show fountain set among tailored landscape planting (designed by Lifescapes International and built by Outside The Lines). The shape mimics a giant leaf, the “inlets” provide seating and a fire pit, and planting “islands” surround the dancing waters. The gathering and seating areas invite guests to sit and gaze at the water feature or walk around it to experience the installation from a variety of viewpoints, as if it were an art piece in a gallery. In the goal of attaining LEED certification, the fountain uses reclaimed water which is captured, treated and redistributed to the fountain, using an on-site reclamation tank-filtration system.
Large trees provide shade across the many walkable spaces and an upper terrace and food court have a glass wall to overlook the gardens and water feature below.
An oversized event lawn (of artificial turf) allows for numerous activities, like ice skating, holiday tree lighting, or concerts in the park. Overhead, there is festoon (“Café”) lighting to create an intimate space. This multi-use expanse provides endless, ever-changing options for the owner to provide activities that delight guests all year long.
Reimagining the heart of a regional shopping mall, this project transforms a traditional parking lot-ringed center into a vibrant lifestyle destination. The vision was to create a place where visitors feel a deep sense of connection—to nature, to their community, and to one another. Working closely with the client and architect, we introduced new culinary experiences, dynamic entertainment areas, and thoughtfully curated social destinations – to draw people together in an environment that fosters exploration and relaxation.
At the heart of the project lies a 62,500-square-foot outdoor garden – a central gathering place that captures the essence of a serene mountain retreat while embracing the energy of a contemporary lifestyle. Inspired by the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains, the landscape design, coined “Sierra Modern Style,” celebrates the region’s natural beauty through the artistic use of salvaged trees, boulders, and other raw materials. Warm earth tones and textured plantings evoke the rugged charm of the mountains but are adapted for the hotter, drier Central Valley climate. Every detail was designed with purpose: a loose, flowing planting style softens the space, while water-wise choices ensure sustainability without sacrificing beauty.
The substantial grade changes within the site became an asset, allowing us to craft tiered seating and tucked-away garden spaces that invite discovery and intimacy. These terraces offer shaded retreats and prime vantage points for entertainment and programmed events. Whether strolling through the gardens, enjoying a meal in one of the unique food and beverage venues, or gathering with friends under the expansive Northern California sky, visitors experience an environment that feels both welcoming and extraordinary.
This urban-inspired environment, developed by DJM Capital Partners, sits along the Pacific Coast in Southern California, across the street from the Huntington Beach pier. The property is a vibrant, bustling, multi-level destination shopping experience featuring a “California beach bungalow” architectural flair. Five acres of the property, nearly 40%, are devoted to landscape area.
Tasked to create a casual, comfortable, eco-chic garden setting, Lifescapes International designed a fully integrated environment to reflect Pacific City’s cool, hip, and sophisticated style that appeals to visitors of all ages. It’s complete with comfortable, sustainable wooden benches, fire pits, umbrella-covered patios, and an abundance of sitting areas in which to take in the oceanfront views.
Pacific City offers 200,000 sf of unique shops, strolling promenades, a spa, Equinox Fitness Center, casual and fine dining, a market hall, entertainment venues, foosball and ping pong tables, and outdoor movies on the deck. With vistas from every plaza, visitors can relax, take in a sunset or simply enjoy conversations with family and friends in a multitude of intimate “outdoor living rooms.”
With well over 200 varieties of plant materials, and dozens of palms (some with trunks caressed by colorful Bougainvillea vines and other plants), Pacific City embodies the best of what California is known for- great, entertainment-driven, retail destinations situated amidst year-round gardens.
Photography by Eric Figge
This unique, multistory shopping destination is walking distance from a vibrant and active harbor, and emphasizes and features the landscape environment “front and center” with its lushly designed gardens.
Showcasing their thought leadership, the cutting-edge owner Robinsons Land Company stated that “nowhere in The Philippines has any other developer focused on the verdant aspects of a landscaped garden for any interior mall.”
Within the air-conditioned environment, Lifescapes combined flourishing trees, shrubs and a variety of floral species, all woven in between the pedestrian walkways, cafes and shops, so that visitors can eat, play and shop in a garden “paradise.”
Additional amenities such as a colorful, floral, inlayed, oversized guitar and interior columns landscaped from top to bottom contribute to generating a sense of fun and create the “WOW” factor that delights the shoppers and visitors.
At night, celestial lights add a glow to the gardens and illuminate the outdoor pathways, offering the perfect place for a plaza and promenade.
Station Park is Farmington, Utah’s, preeminent lifestyle shopping center serving residents and the visitors of the Salt Lake City metropolitan region. The project has over 800,000 square feet of retail, entertainment, restaurant and future office and hotel areas. A beautiful event lawn, generous children’s play area, numerous intimate patio settings, an outdoor winter skating area, and local artisan sculptures adorn the property. The lifestyle center is made more colorful by the presence of hundreds of mature trees, seasonal color, ornamental pottery and colorful hanging baskets. This iconic destination boasts a choreographed water show element complete with music and LED lighting.
A public-private partnership project with the City of Glendale and Caruso Affiliated, The Americana at Brand is a 15.5-acre regional landmark situated in the heart of the city and features a 2-acre generously landscaped, vast open central public park at the project’s center and battery-operated trolley rides through the main square and around the perimeter.
Abundant mature trees, colorful flower beds and a beautiful dancing fountain (Waters of Americana) with the Spirit of American Youth sculpture by Donald Harcourt DeLue rising from the center make up the centerpiece. Integral to the property is 238 apartment homes and 100 elegant condominiums with lush garden and pool areas, seating surrounding an outdoor fireplace, 75 shops and boutiques, 17 restaurants, a multi-screen theater complex, children’s play area and ample parking.