Carmel Contemporary Hacienda — the lap pool terrace at golden hour, lavender and grasses in the foreground
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Carmel

Carmel Contemporary Hacienda

The oak woodland drew them in; the hacienda-style house no longer fit how they lived.

Carmel Contemporary Hacienda — the hacienda's arched entry under a live oak, olives at the gravel arrival court
The house kept its hacienda form; the landscape around it changed register.
The project

The house stayed. The landscape changed its style.

The oak woodland drew the owners to this lot. The hacienda-style house was another matter — it no longer matched how they wanted to live, and they had no wish to tear it down.

So the landscape shifted the register instead: the old Carmel stone gave way to stucco matched to the house and crisp limestone paving, and the planting was refreshed to a drought-tolerant palette of lavender, grasses and succulents.

On the canyon side, in the southern sun, a tight dining terrace and hot tub became a far more generous stone terrace under an arbor of aged wood posts and steel louvers, with a lap pool and ipe sun docks. Grasses and lavender keep the foreground simple so the view to Pinon Peak across the canyon carries.

In the oak grove, a speakeasy patio gives parties somewhere to spill, anchored by a fire feature: a broad limestone base, a corten panel, dark stucco behind.

I was project manager on this, at Arterra Landscape Architects.

Carmel Contemporary Hacienda — shade umbrella and loungers at the pool's overflow edge
Sun docks set level with the water: on a foggy morning, this is where you sit.
Carmel Contemporary Hacienda — the lap pool and ipe sun docks below the house in morning fog
Where a tight terrace and hot tub once sat, a stone terrace steps down to the lap pool.
Carmel Contemporary Hacienda — lavender and grasses along a gravel path
Lavender and grasses keep the planting low where the ground falls away.
Carmel Contemporary Hacienda — the oak grove garden with gravel paths and drought-tolerant planting
Under the big oak, gravel paths and low planting bring the woodland right up to the house.
Carmel Contemporary Hacienda — Salvia and kangaroo paw against the house wall
Salvia and kangaroo paw carry color through the dry months.
Carmel Contemporary Hacienda — massed agave above the stacked-stone terrace wall
Agave massed above the stacked-stone wall softens the edge of the terrace.
Carmel Contemporary Hacienda — the sunken patio in the oak grove, a stone fire pit at its center, the house beyond
A sunken patio in the oak grove gathers everyone around a stone fire pit.
Carmel Contemporary Hacienda — the fire feature on the patio in the oak grove: a broad limestone base, a corten panel, dark stucco behind, lounge seating in front
The fire feature anchors the lounge: a broad limestone base, a corten panel, dark stucco behind.
Carmel Contemporary Hacienda — the dark fountain vessel and its stone basin against the evening sky
The fountain vessel stands in a low stone basin at the terrace edge.
Carmel Contemporary Hacienda — lit twig sphere sculptures in the oak grove after dark
Lit sphere sculptures mark the oak grove after dark.
Project credits
Design team — Arterra Landscape ArchitectsKate Stickley (principal), Sharon DeBell (project manager)
ArchitectRobert Hayes + Associates
Interior designSendell Design Group
BuilderVucina Construction
Landscape contractorsTown & Country Landscapes; Frank + Grossman
LightingLight Ideas
PhotographyPaul Dyer
Setting · Carmel, California
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