Project 02 — Concept
Ridgeline
Pacific Palisades, California — Upper Riviera
The Ridgeline project began with a contradiction: the clients — both architects themselves — wanted a garden that felt wild and undesigned, yet the site's fire-zone designation demanded a defensible space strategy with strict fuel modification zones. The property sits at the crest of a ridge in the Upper Riviera, with views extending from the Santa Monica Mountains to Catalina Island. Five mature coast live oaks, some over a century old, anchor the site and became the organising principle of the entire design.
We developed a planting strategy that satisfies the fire marshal's requirements while creating the layered, biodiverse landscape the clients envisioned. The first thirty feet from the structure uses low-growing, high-moisture-content species — Ceanothus, Salvia apiana, and Muhlenbergia rigens — that read as a naturalistic meadow but function as a fire-resistant buffer. Beyond this zone, the planting transitions to a more complex chaparral community that connects visually and ecologically with the surrounding wildland.
The hardscape is minimal by intention. A single decomposed granite path traces the ridgeline, connecting a series of outdoor rooms defined not by walls but by shifts in grade and canopy. The swimming pool — the one concession to conventional luxury — is set into the hillside as a reflecting basin, its infinity edge aligned precisely with the horizon line of the Pacific.
Process
Design Development & Installation
Phase 01 — Arborist Assessment & Fire Planning
The project began with a comprehensive arborist assessment of the five existing coast live oaks. Each tree was mapped, its root zone delineated, and a protection plan developed that would govern all subsequent construction activity. Simultaneously, we worked with the Los Angeles Fire Department to develop a fuel modification plan that preserved the oaks — classified as protected trees under city ordinance — while meeting the 200-foot defensible space requirement.
Phase 02 — Soil Amendment & Planting
The heavy clay soil required extensive amendment — 180 tons of organic compost were incorporated across the planting zones to improve drainage and root penetration. Planting proceeded in three campaigns: the fire-resistant buffer zone first, followed by the transitional chaparral, and finally the understory plantings beneath the existing oaks. Each campaign was timed to the seasonal rhythm of the species involved, with the oak understory planted during the dormant season to minimise root disturbance.
Phase 03 — Irrigation & Establishment
Establishment was managed through the first two dry seasons. A temporary drip system, zoned to keep water well away from the protected oak root zones, supported the new plantings and was reduced each month as roots reached the clay subsoil. The meadow buffer reached full coverage within eighteen months, and the fuel modification plan now passes its annual fire inspection with the oaks intact and the chaparral thriving.
Gallery — Ridgeline
Beneath the five coast live oaks, the understory planting was kept sparse and low, protecting the root zones the arborist mapped in the first phase. Gravel clearings act as shaded outdoor rooms, and the fire-resistant meadow near the house glows silver-green through the dry months, fading into the chaparral that runs down toward the canyon.