Situated on a peninsula overlooking the San Francisco Bay, this sculptural garden reflects the unique vision of passionate art collectors whose personal artistic impulse includes the idea of the landscape being experienced and enhanced through play and exploration. As a result, the garden incorporates several distinct spaces that weave together architecture and landscape, while seeking to capture the site’s unique views and topography. Children’s play areas abound throughout the site. The folding deck at the site’s entrance doubles as a climbing wall. The focal point of the children’s area is defined by the playfully sculpted green mounds affording a wonderland of discovery and distinct play spaces: ‘Rabbit Hole Hill’ allows children to drop balls into tubes of various sizes, without knowing where they will emerge in the landscape; ‘Jump Mound’ conceals a hidden trampoline; ‘The Hobbit House’, situated beyond a play structure, gives the children a personal play space among a landscape of native grasses. Similarly, the re-used granite curbing and curved lawn embankment is frequently used as an impromptu children’s theater for open-air performances. The overall sculptural quality of the landscape both dynamic and interactive, providing places for reflection, play, and discovery, while acknowledging the native, regional landscape.

Published: April 13, 2017