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Landscape Architecture Design for a Desert Climate: A Zen Garden in Santa Monica

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What happens when a Japanese-style garden meets the southern California desert? For the very Zen results, let’s visit a serene gravel courtyard that landscape architecture firm Terremoto designed for Mohawk General Store in Santa Monica.

Photography by Caitlin Atkinson, courtesy of Terremoto.

Passionflower vines soften the redbrick facade of Mohawk General Store. “The vines were existing when we started the project and we decided to keep them because they were happy there,” says landscape architect David Godshall.
Above: Passionflower vines soften the redbrick facade of Mohawk General Store. “The vines were existing when we started the project and we decided to keep them because they were happy there,” says landscape architect David Godshall.

“This was an attempt to create a garden that was both Japanese and desert simultaneously,” landscape architect David Godshall says, adding that client Kevin Carney wanted a space to have movie screenings and to create a backdrop for fashion shoots.

The garden, formerly occupied by gardening shop Potted, had existing hardscape (some concrete slabs) and a few specimen plants—including two large palms—that the team salvaged from the previous design. “For the rest of it, we started from scratch.”

During the remodel, Terremoto removed “chunky, two-inch gravel and a fair amount of existing concrete” and replaced the surface with decomposed concrete with “a heavy dusting” of gravel on top to stabilize the DG, Godshall says: “With this approach you lose the negative aspects of getting DG on the bottom of your shoes and also the feeling that gravel is a trudge to walk through.”
Above: During the remodel, Terremoto removed “chunky, two-inch gravel and a fair amount of existing concrete” and replaced the surface with decomposed concrete with “a heavy dusting” of gravel on top to stabilize the DG, Godshall says: “With this approach you lose the negative aspects of getting DG on the bottom of your shoes and also the feeling that gravel is a trudge to walk through.”

“We made the design process conversational,” Godshall says. “We went cactus shopping with the clients. Then we went boulder shopping. After we got all the elements on site, an incredibly hardworking crew shadow boxed them into place. Then there was a lot of looking at how things looked, walking around, and shifting it around.”

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