Lafayette, California

Located near San Francisco in the Happy Valley neighborhood of Lafayette, California, Happy Valley House by Robert Swatt of Swatt | Miers Architects for Jeffrey Lee uses existing nature and the pre-existing building footprint as its jumping off points.

The site for this new 12,000 square foot home is a level 2.3 acre parcel, bordered on the north by an access road and on the south by a year-round creek.

A pre-existing single-story 7,000 square foot structure, constructed in 1938, was deconstructed to make way for the new development, however, almost all of the mature landscaping, including stands of giant redwood and oak trees, were protected and maintained to ensure Privacy for the new homeowners and their neighbors.

The Happy Valley Residence has recently been awarded a 2022 American Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

To preserve the pre-existing landscaping, one of the earliest design decisions involved reusing the overall footprint of the original 1938 structure as the basis for the overall plan of the new home.

The new home, roughly double the size of the pre-existing home, is a two-story structure with a simple H-shaped plan that creates an entry courtyard on the north side and a large covered lanai on the south side.

The kitchen and family areas are on the east side of the “H” and the home office and guest suite are on the opposite side, with a grand 2-story great room in the center — opening directly to both courtyard spaces.

Private bedroom spaces are located on the upper level, with a dramatic bridge that runs through the great room, connecting the master suite and the children’s bedrooms.

Generous roof overhangs provide sun protection on the south and west sides of the home, while vertical wood slats within the window systems provide a sense of privacy on the north side.

Materials are warm and natural and include Western Red Cedar for siding, some interiors walls and ceilings, and travertine stone walls, flooring, and outdoor terraces.

Windows and doors were custom-made of Douglas Fir, stained to match the cedar siding.

The initial design strategy of reusing the pre-existing building footprint and landscaping has proved to be enormously successful.

Surrounded by fully mature landscaping on all sides, this new home exhibits a sense of timelessness, with architecture that is carefully knitted to its site.

Project: Happy Valley Residence
Architects: Swatt | Miers Architects
Lead Architect: Robert Swatt
General Contractor: WB Elmer & Company
Client: Jeffrey Lee
Photographers: Russell Abraham, Abraham and Paulin Photography

Section I: Contracting authority

I.1) Names and addresses

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

.

London

.

E-mail

parksprojects [at] rbkc.gov.uk

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code

UK – United Kingdom

Internet address(es)

Mainaddress

https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/

I.3) Communication

The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at

https://www.capitalesourcing.com/web/login.shtml

Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address

Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via

https://www.capitalesourcing.com/web/login.shtml

Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to the above-mentioned address

I.4) Type of the contracting authority

Regional or local authority

I.5) Main activities

General public services

Section II: Object

II.1) Scope of the procurement

II.1.1) Title

Woodland Nature Trail Renovation – Landscaping/Planting (Avondale Park)

II.1.2) Main CPV code

• 45000000 – Construction work

II.1.3) Type of contract

Works

II.1.4) Short description

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea are seeking proposals for the complete renovation of an existing enclosed woodland trail space located at Avondale Park (Walmer Rd, London W11 4EY). This includes hard/soft landscaping, planting, and other features within the specifications/design. The design for the space has already been decided and can be found within the capital sourcing portal.

II.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: no

II.2) Description

II.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes

II.2.4) Description of the procurement

Green landscaping/planting

II.2.5) Award criteria

Price is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents

II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system

starting date

6 February 2023

This contract is subject to renewal

No

II.2.10) Information about variants

Variants will be accepted: No

II.2.11) Information about options

Options: no

II.2.13) Information about European Union Funds

The procurement is related to a project and/or program financed by European Union funds: No

Section IV. Procedure

IV.1) Description

IV.1.1) Type of procedure

Open procedure

IV.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No

IV.2) Administrative information

IV.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate

dates

23 January 2023

IV.2.4) Languages ​​in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted

English

IV.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders

dates

30 January 2023

Local time

9:00 am

Section VI. Complementary information

VI.1) Information about recurrence

This is a recurrent procurement: no

VI.4) Procedures for review

VI.4.1) Review body

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

London

Country

United Kingdom

size assignment and they owe to their extensive knowledge of plants, soils, landscaping materials and building techniques. And that is not all they also provide their landscaping services at reasonable prices and they serve all clients equally with transparency and honesty. The scope of their work includes Full Project Management, Design and 3D Modelling, Hardscape, Specialization in biopools and ecoponds, Maintenance Services, Water scape aquascape designs, Pergola & Gazebo Outdoor decking & privacy screens, Green wall & vertical gardens, Deck & Cladding, Outdoor Furniture, Bar & Barbeque, Rooftop Organic Farms et al.

Everything that leads us back to nature’s leisurely loops and settles us down is a blessing. Gardens are a medium for God’s grace

With Supermode, any landscaping and gardening project is handled by their experienced and skilled craftsmen using only high quality landscaping equipment, be it from site work, stone masonry or bespoke brick. Any project of any magnitude is undertaken by using the finest resources that ensure the best outcomes. Typically, every project starts with a consultation where a comprehensive discussion takes place where the garden goals are discussed. The next step is the Landscape Design Proposal. Post that is the Landscape Design Work where a precise and accurate scaled sketch of the garden is given. Planting plan is the next step which involves creation of planting plans, plant sourcing and selection with the final step being Planting.

Supermode has worked assisted in landscaping and gardening projects for Wipro, Vedanta, Radisson, Hyatt, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Indian Railways, Science City, ITC, Ambuja Cement, RBI, Apollo, NTPC, Calcutta Riverside, Metro Railway Kolkata, Larsen & Toubro, Godrej, Indian Army, Reliance, Tata, RPSG Group and many more. Given the exceptional nature of their work and the affordability they provide, it is no surprise that Supermode is a favorite amongst their clients. The basic core of Supermode is to provide aesthetic, beautiful settings that help people feel more connected with nature. Subrata Ghosh adds, “Everything that leads us back to nature’s leisurely loops and settles us down is a blessing. Gardens are a medium for God’s grace”.

A series on Ecological Landscaping at Audubon Greenwich that was started before the pandemic resumed in person on Sunday, thanks to the initiative of Kim Gregory.

On Sunday, Biologist Jim Carr and Master Gardener Andy Chapin contrasted industrial lawn care with ecological lawn and garden care.

Industrial lawn care typically relies on hired crews, chemicals and loud machinery. With ecological lawn and garden care, nature does much of the work.

“What business does Audubon Center have in garden education when their focus is birds?” Mr Carr asked. “There has been an alarming decline in the bird population, and one of the main reasons is the way properties are being managed.”

While most people see the perfect lawn as entirely green without a single weed, Mr. Carr said, “There is a high cost in time and money, but the biggest cost is ecological.”

At Audubon Greenwich, Vera Blankley admires a wedge of healthy lawn, which is about 50% porous. Nov 20, 2022
Andy Chapin, Master Gardener and former land steward at Audubon Greenwich with Jim Carr, biologist who has taught at the New York Botanical Gardens for 20 years, talked about the benefits of Ecological Landscaping. Nov 20, 2022

When leaves are ground up by a mower and left on a lawn, along with grass clippings, that provides nutrients to the grass and acts like mulch to suppress weed growth. It also insulates the soil and roots during the winter.

Ground up leaves decompose and add nutrients back to the soil. Then, in the spring there is no need to treat the soil with chemicals.

Industrial lawn care performed by gasoline fueled machinery includes lawnmowers, leaf blowers, de-thatchers, aerators, spraying equipment. The practice also relies on fertilizers and pesticides manufactured on an industrial scale in chemical plants.

An alternative to a green, weed-free and leaf-free lawn is to allow the natural ecology to exist.

The 280 acre Audubon Greenwich nature preserve is an example of ecological management, with its thriving forests, meadows and wetlands.

“I can assure you that no one is out there applying fertilizer to this area,” Mr. Carr said. “Nor is anyone spraying for pests. Yet nature is managing this landscape magnificently, as she does all of her landscapes.”

Mother Nature Recycles Nutrients to Create Humus

In the case of dead plant material becomes food for soil organisms. “They ingest it. They excrete it out, and it’s a food chain. Their excretions are a food source for other soil organisms,” Carr explained. “It sounds disgusting, but that’s how nature works. The nutrients move down the food chain and the final use of excretions is humus.”

Carr described humus as nature-made compost.

The production of humus takes place over the winter. In spring it is available to support lush plant growth.

Mr Carr talked about the importance of biodiversity. The more species there present, the more chance to attract ‘beneficial predators’ who prey on and kill the pests.

Beneficial predators are mainly birds, but also insects.

“In a stable environment where humans don’t interfere, every pest has at least one enemy that wants to make a meal of it,” he said. “They’re not going to eliminate them, but they’ll keep them down so they don’t cause considerable damage.”

Mr. Chapin said native trees add value, and that the primary reason birds show up at Audubon every spring is for the “caterpillar explosion” from native trees. The caterpillars are “protein packs” that give the birds energy.

Industrial Lawn Care: Chemical Fertilizers, Insecticides, Herbicides, Irrigation, Fungicides

Mr. Carr said with commercial lawn care services that practice industrial lawn care, when the lawn is mowed, and grass clippings are bagged and disposed of, nutrients for the soil and trees are removed.

Carr likened healthy soil to a fat, nutrient-rich bank account.

“There are only so many nutrients there. If they keep being removed, it’ll go bankrupt. Those nutrients need to be replaced.”

Industrial lawn care features chemical fertilizers high in nitrogen, potassium and calcium. By law they have to be water soluble, which means they have to be immediately available to the plants.

When there is no humus in the soil, and nutrition comes from fertilizer, plants take up nitrogen faster than it can be incorporated into the tissues of the plant. The nitrogen backs up in the metabolic chain in the plant.

And, since insects need nitrogen for growth and reproduction in the spring, they will go after the free nitrogen in the grass.

“How do we solve that problem? Insecticides,” he said.

Since most people consider a “weed” anything that is not turf grass, they’ll use herbicide.

Then, in summer when lawns begin to dry out and develop a problem with soil acidity, people apply Lyme, when humus would otherwise buffer the acidity.

Humus absorbs water like a sponge and stores it. As the soil starts to dry out in summer, the humus will release the water gradually to the plants, to try to keep an even moisture in the soil.

“Nature really has her act together,” Carr said.

“But if the lawn has been deprived of soil and is missing humus, how is that solved?” Car asked. “Irrigation.”

Then, when grass dies it creates thatch.

Leaves, stems and roots accumulate when they die and start to clog the lawn.

Enter the industrial lawn care’s de-thatcher, a gasoline powered machine.

“All this organic material that would make nice humus is just taken away,” he said.

Healthy soil is like a sponge with pores. Air circulates, bringing oxygen to the roots and taking carbon dioxide away.

Since there’s no humus in a chemical lawn, there’s no porosity.

If the soil compacts and roots don’t get oxygen, they shorten and ultimately die.

“How’s that corrected?” Car asked. “Aeration.”

Mr. Carr described aeration as a total waste of time and money.

“If you watch these machines operate, they’re poking holes. Those few holes do nothing, and when it starts to rain, those holes fill up.”

Carr and Chapin’s advice? Allow nature to create humus: Leave grass clippings in place. In case, don’t blow the leaves; mow them with an ordinary walk-behind mower to grind them up and leave them in place.

When the leaves are ground into small pieces, they break down quickly and will have vanished by spring.

“There will be a little brown in the lawn and some people may object to that,” Mr Carr said. “But if you can put up with that, there’s absolutely no reason to blow away the leaves.”

Besides, Carr said there has been “mission creep” in the use of leaf blowers, with crews blowing lawns all summer long.

His suggestion was to ask the lawn crews to mow and not blow.

Further, he said many property owners have more lawn than they need for children and dogs, and some lawn can be replaced with ground cover, ecologically managed flower beds and pathways.

Beneficial Predators and Native Plants

A hospitable environment with native plants attracts beneficial predators like Ladybugs and birds, who get energy from the plant nectar, in turn, help control pests.

Also, the insects provide the plant a service by spreading pollen to help the plant reproduce.

“If you use insecticides and kill all the insects, the ones you don’t want will come back faster,” Chapin said. “Within 10 days you have a new cycle of mosquitoes with no competition. Meanwhile the average dragonfly life cycle is two to three years.”

Some beneficial predators will overwinter inside dead flower stems. Some will lay eggs in leaf litter.

So Mr. Carr recommends not cutting down dead flower stalks because they provide shelter for beneficial insects over the winter.

Interested in pursuing ecological landscaping? On Dec 11 from 1:00-3:00pm, Carr and Chapin will lead a session at Audubon on how create your own ecological garden.

The event is free but registration is required. Register by emailing [email protected]

Greenwich Audubon Center is located at 613 Riversville Rd, Greenwich, CT 06831.

In the dead of winter, we can’t overlook our brave, feathered friends who share the neighborhood.

Although many birds seek warmer climes, those who stick around for a high-fat diet attract fruits and insects, as well as a source of water and shelter. There are roughly 35 species reported to be found in this area of ​​Pennsylvania in January, and you can see them in your yard if they find it inviting.

Keep your feed troughs clean, covered, and near the protection of a shrub or branch in case a predator approaches. A source of running water is ideal as birds are drawn to movement and noise. If not, a heated bird bath provides an even source of water. Otherwise, keep your water in a sunny spot, add small dark stones to attract most of the sun, and add fresh water daily. Try adding a few floating twigs to keep the water moving and to delay freezing. As always, the container must be kept perfectly clean.

Black oil or striped sunflower seeds are rich in oil. Peanut hearts are great choices for smaller birds. Sunflower seeds, peanut butter, and thistle (Niger) are also popular.

Suet, especially with additional fruits and nuts, provides high quality animal fat plus protein. Mealworms are another source of protein.

Most importantly, plan your landscape so that it provides a natural source of food and shelter for wildlife. Go local. Remember that fruit and nut-bearing shrubs and trees are not only beautiful, they are the best source of food and shelter for wildlife all year round.

Additionally, they add color and structural interest to your garden in winter, even when other plants are dormant. Penn State provides examples of winter food sources: hawthorn, viburnum, winter berry, deer horn sumach, and crab apple. Don’t overlook evergreen plants like American holly, Austrian pine, Siberian and Oriental spruce and arborvitae for shelter. Our state tree, the eastern hemlock, is a great source of shelter and nesting, safe from the elements.

Woodpeckers, nuthatches, wrens and titmouse are hollow nests. They look for holes in trees or crevices in rocks, banks, etc. that are suitable for nesting. Woodpeckers can drill their own cavities. When nesting holes are scarce, smaller birds can use birdhouses and nesting boxes. It is a good idea to provide nesting material in the spring to encourage nesting activity in your yard.

While you may prefer to remove all traces of plants, leaves, and other debris from your garden in the fall, please remember how important these materials are to the birds, bees, and small mammals in your neighborhood in the winter.

Sam Walter Foss wrote: ‘.’ .. let me live in a house by the roadside. And be a friend of man. “I allow myself to add friends of nature as well.

For more information: https://extension.psu.edu/winter-bird-feeding-the-basics

Elizabeth Farrell is a volunteer master gardener for Berks County Penn State.

The architects at kiyoaki takeda built a wooden house with five retaining walls that combine nature and artifact by allowing the property to coexist in harmony with the hilly terrain and the earth of its location. is located in the Setagaya residential area of TokyoThe project is surrounded by neighboring lots built on level land and made up of huge concrete walls to accommodate the uneven terrain. In contrast, the design of this home focuses on locking its residents into the earth and encourages a deeper connection with the natural environment despite the urban setting of the place.all pictures © masaki hamada (kkpo)

“I want to bring back the tactile feeling of living in a ‘place’,” notes Kiyoaki Takeda. “It cannot be achieved by just putting soil on the ground. I believe that this sensation can only be achieved if we as human beings are supported and enveloped by the structure of the earth, which emerged from the contrast between nature and artifact. For this house I was striving for an architecture that is filled with the life force that the earth itself takes root. ‘The newly built house was built for a family of young couples and their four children and uses the uneven terrain of the property, which is characterized by a rough slope with a height difference of 3.5 meters.

Several small areas have been excavated to make the most of the nature of the site, while various retaining walls have been designed to accommodate the differences in elevation resulting from the excavations. “Five small retaining walls” appeared on site, connecting nature and artefact with each other and each having a different shape. However, all of them follow a flat structure reinforced by L- or T-shaped ribs and bear the earth’s load with their thickness, which is set as thin as possible.

“The thinness of the wall was an attempt to recognize the retaining wall – the building material – as an essential part of the human habitat and to implement this wall inside the house despite its geothermal properties,” said the Tokyo-based architect. “As a holdover from the earth’s struggle and architecture to coexist, this complex boundary between them should be able to provide vivid moments in life in this habitat.”

The architecture extends across this structure, tracing the earth shape of the foundation and retaining walls. It consists of two layers that combine reinforced concrete and wood. The reinforced structure that is in the lower part of the building is basically the underfloor space, but it is turned into an interior space. Through the integration into the living area within the wooden construction, the interior encloses a large atrium in which various jump floors with different environments are accommodated. The wooden construction provides an open frame that exposes the beams in the atrium and offers the option of increasing the floor space in the future. “Residents would first feel the differences in each room and then explore their own way to manipulate and shape their own lives in that environment,” adds Kiyoaki Takeda.

Construction picture

Construction picturesection

Project info:

Surname: House with Five Retaining Walls (House in Setagaya)

Architect: Kiyoaki Takeda Architects

Location: Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, Japan

Text translation: Mommy Sayo

sofia lekka angelopoulou I design

May 11, 2020