2025 Cercy Residence
Project Overview
This landscape design balances functionality, natural aesthetics, and architectural harmony—bringing together practical site needs with a poetic connection to the surrounding mountain environment.
The circulation strategy allows for a comfortable 10-foot-wide snowplowing clearance around the house, ensuring year-round accessibility and ease of maintenance. From this foundation, the paths expand into a gentle network of trails and transitions, inviting exploration beyond the immediate dwelling area and into the broader beauty of the property.
The geometry of the layout is carefully harmonized with the home's architecture, using thoughtful shapes and offsets that respond to the building’s form and orientation. Lines and curves are not arbitrary—they echo the house, supporting a cohesive relationship between built and planted spaces.
Designed with flexibility in mind, the plan respects the existing site topography and earthwork banks. Final adjustments will be made on-site, ensuring the design aligns precisely with real-world conditions and opportunities that emerge during construction.
The planting concept supports and amplifies native vegetation, blending it with select ornamental species to enhance texture, seasonality, and resilience. This combination reinforces the site's natural character while introducing moments of designed beauty and biodiversity.
The result is a landscape that is functional, adaptive, and immersive—a place that feels anchored to its setting, easy to live with, and inspiring to walk through.
Masterplan
Reading Guide
To communicate the full vision of the landscape design, we’ve developed several layered visual readings of the masterplan. Each layer highlights a specific design intent and gives you the flexibility to explore the property’s layout through different lenses.
Moodboard
Visual inspiration Guide
This curated moodboard captures the aesthetic, material, and botanical intentions of the landscape design. Each slide represents a key theme, showcasing reference images that reflect the spirit of the site and the design philosophy. Together, they guide visual decision-making for plant selection, hardscaping, material tones, and seasonal interest.
Preview Renderings V3
Gallery – Updated Deck & Hot Tub Layout
This gallery presents an alternative patio design featuring a new location for the hot tub on a dedicated square deck. This layout improves circulation around the house and simplifies construction by replacing a concrete area with decking, reducing the need for excavation.
The patio area at the bottom of the stairs is shown with approximate sizing for now, pending on-site confirmation. Optional seating arrangements are included to illustrate the space potential and view orientation.
Preview Renderings V1
Gallery – NORTH – Main Entrance Walkway
his gallery explores design options and visual refinements for the home’s main entry sequence from the northern hillside. It includes renderings of the curved walkway layout, alternating rock garden and planting zones, and sculptural pots to introduce height and rhythm. Two versions of the path are presented — paved with flagstones and unpaved with structured gravel — to help guide the final material decision.
Preview Renderings V1
Gallery –WEST – House Backside
West Elevation – Rear Landscape Design
This gallery shows the west side of the home, featuring a 10' snow plow clearance, a curved gravel walkway to the south decks, and low planting borders that align with the house geometry. A 7' offset is also reserved for a future trail.
Hardscaping Overview by Zone
Design Overview & Feature Description
This document outlines the Phase 1 hardscaping strategy of the Creek Ranch landscape design, organized by the four primary zones of intervention around the house. Each zone is guided by architectural alignment and terrain logic, balancing function, visual coherence, and site feasibility.
The design approach is driven by architectural alignments, where dimensions follow the logic of placement rather than dictating layout. Alignments take precedence over exact measurements, ensuring visual consistency and functional harmony. Corners and transitions are defined using a strict 90° and 45° geometric system. All triangles integrated into the plan are isosceles right triangles (45-45-90), supporting cohesive forms and construction-friendly angles.
Each zone is presented with consistent categories: Alignment, Dimensions, and Materials, for ease of cross-referencing across the web platform and PDF documentation.
1. NORTH – Hill View & Main Entrance
1.0
OVERVIEW
Summary :
1.1 Snow Plowing Clearance
1.2 Walkway to Entrance
1.3 Plantation Box
1.4 Planting Borders
1.5 Ending Rock Garden
1.1
Snow Plowing Clearance
Alignment Rules:
The entrance hardscaping mostly aligns with the 10' snow plowing clearance line.
Dimensions:
10'
Materials:
1.2 Walkway to Entrance
Alignment Rules:
From both corners of the north façade, the walkway to the main entrance runs through the designated 10-foot snow plow clearance zone. Two parallel, gently curving lines of galvanized steel edging define a 3'4″-wide virtual alley to the entrance, with contrasting gravel textures or colors on either side enhancing the visual rhythm of the path.
Dimensions:
10'
Materials:
Gravel - Galvanized Steel Edging
1.3
North Plantation box
Alignment Rules:
The North Plantation Box, shaped as an isosceles triangle, aligns with the corner of the garage and sits just outside the 10-foot snow clearance zone extending from the smaller garage door."
Dimensions:
Approx. 20'3 - 14'4 - H 24"
Materials:
Steel
1.4
Planting Borders
Alignment Rules:
The planting borders align, on the house side, with the walkway within the 10-foot snow plowing clearance zone, and on the opposite side with the home’s west corner. The layout is divided into three equal sections, alternating rock gardens for visual rhythm. The outer borders are built with masonry or defined by 12-inch-wide stone bands, while the inner zone is outlined with steel edging — the same material used for the North planting box
Dimensions:
Approx. 3x 11'10" - 25'2"
Materials:
Steel - Stone bands
1.5
Ending Rock Garden
Alignment Rules:
Following the same alignment as the other planting borders, the final rock garden maintains the 11'10" width but extends further in length. It terminates around the midpoint of the North planting box. The same 'X' distance is mirrored on the opposite side to create a square offset, visually closing the zone and completing the North hardscaping layout.
Dimensions:
Approx. 11'10" - 26'9"
Materials:
Steel
2. EAST – Driveway & Garage Access
2.1 Driveway Expansion
Alignment Rules:
The Driveway expand +8' on the right side regarding the current construction access driveway
Dimensions:
Approx. 24'
Materials:
Gravel
3. SOUTH – Valley View: Patios and Deck Side
3.0
OVERVIEW
Summary :
3.1 Main Deck
3.2 Landing Deck
3.3 Bedroom Patio
3.4 Secondary Deck
3.5 Corner Patio
3.6 Technical Corner
3.7 Plantation Box
3.8 Hot Tub Deck
3.9 South Rock Garden
3.1
Main Deck
Alignment Rules:
The MAIN DECK is already Built and is the reference for every further hardscaping construction.
Dimensions:
Approx. 34'10 x 20'
Materials:
Decking wood :
3.2 Landing
Deck
Alignment Rules:
The LANDING DECK Aligns between the two main deck central colums.
Dimensions:
Approx. 18' x 15'2"
Materials:
Decking wood :
Floating Tiles : 20"x20"
3.3 Bedroom Patio
Alignment Rules:
The BEDROOM PATIO is already Built and fill the corner of the house architecture near the master bedroom.
Dimensions:
Approx. 11'4" x 7'
Materials:
Stamped concrete
3.4 Secondary Deck
Alignment Rules:
The SECONDARY DECK Aligns with the Bedroom Patio
Dimensions:
Approx. 22' x 13’6”
Materials:
Decking wood :
Floating Tiles : 20"x20"
Plantation Boxes: Corten Steel
3.5
Corner Patio
Alignment Rules:
The CORNER PATIO is built of concrete slabs and steptones, the offset areas are filed with riverbed rocks. Every elements fits into an isoscele triangle aligned along the Bedroom Patio and the master bathroom corner.
Drainage grade:
2% Grade from edge of garage out. Level across garage and man door with 3% grade valley between. Addition valley drain on edge with a 12-14" thickened edge along rock up against house with French drain.
Dimensions:
Approx. 32'8" x 23'1”
Materials:
Poured Concrete
Accent Slab
Riverbed Rocks
3.6
Technical Corner
Alignment Rules:
The TECHNICAL CORNER aligns with the isoscele triangle design of the corner patio and the gagage corner.
Dimensions:
Approx. 15'7" x 13'
Materials:
Poured Concrete
Dark Stained Corner Timber Beams
Dark Stained - Charred or Black timber
3.7
Plantation Box
Alignment Rules:
The PLANTATION BOX aligns with the bedroom patio, the corner patio slabs and the house garage corner.
Dimensions:
Approx. 19'7" x 13'
Materials:
Corten Steel
3.8
Hot Tub Deck
Alignment Rules:
The HOT TUB DECK aligns with the secondary patio and the plantation box.
Dimensions:
Approx. 13'10" x 13'6"
Materials:
Floating Tiles : 20"x20"
Plantation Box : Corten Steel
3.9
South Rock Garden
Alignment Rules:
The ROCK SOUTH GARDEN is design like an isoscele triangle. The lowest point is the longuest side of the triangle it aligns with the house garage corner
Dimensions:
Approx. 35' x 24'9"
Materials:
Boulders and plantation
4. WEST – House Backside
4.0
OVERVIEW
Summary :
4.1 Snow Plowing Clearance
4.2 Walkway to South Decks
4.3 Planting Borders
4.1
Snow Plowing Clearance
Alignment Rules:
The west-side hardscaping provides a 10-foot-wide snow plowing clearance, which extends diagonally beyond the back corners of the home. This angled extension ensures there is enough space for vehicle maneuvering during winter maintenance.
Dimensions:
10'
4.2
Walkway to South Decks
Alignment Rules:
The rear walkway leads toward the existing sloped banks at the back of the property.
Its soft curves contrast with the home’s angular architecture, bringing rhythm and movement to the layout.
I recommend using galvanized steel edging to define the path, separating two types of gravel (in different calibers or colors), similar to the main entrance walkway.
Materials:
Gravel - Galvanized Steel Edging
4.3
Planting Borders
Alignment Rules:
Each rear corner of the property ends with a planting border that transitions into the sloped banks. These borders are either built with masonry or outlined with 12"-wide rocks.
They follow the angles of the house and the deck chimney, and sit outside the 10' snow plowing clearance.
-
South Corner: Mirrors the layout of the Main Deck, with parallel and perpendicular lines. It features two rectangular planting beds, either stacked or aligned at the same height depending on the slope.
-
North Corner: Rotated 45°, this area includes a single planting bed framed by a surrounding rock garden. A 7' offset is left for a future trail to be added in the next phase.
Planting borders remain low, between 8" and 24" in height, depending on slope and material.
Materials:
Stone Bands
