AIA SB Merit Award

This landscape, pool, and cabana emerged from a football-field-sized expanse of bare, flat earth overlooking a lush agricultural region in Somis, CA. Re-introducing topography to the site, we created both a sense of place and a collection of outdoor spaces distinguished in function and feeling by unique materials. Given the region’s susceptibility to wildfires, the material and planting choices were also driven by their level of fire resistance.

The overall site plan includes terraced steps, retaining walls, and planters that form a considered geometry, with sharp angles and linear patterns that both mirror and frame the rows of agricultural fields below. Plantings feature field-dug olive trees from California’s central valley and other native and drought-tolerant species, creating a cool palette that plays well against a backdrop of french limestone pavers and pea-gravel.

The pool design is guided by the owner’s vision for an experience that feels more swimming hole than traditional pool: the water is wrapped on two sides with reclaimed-wood decking that creates a dock-like entry point, and the dark, textured pool bottom evokes a natural body of water.

A pool cabana’s sliding barn doors open to storage on one end and a kitchen/wet bar on the other. Adjacent to the structure, a mature field-dug olive tree anchors an elevated garden seating area that provides a shady respite from the region’s warm summers and a quiet place for taking in a moonrise over the fields below.