Rejuvenating a Garden That Inspires

As the heart of their community, the central green had become a sea of brown grass. The residents at Vista Del Monte, a highly desirable senior living facility located in Santa Barbara, had deserved better. They needed a space to relax and enjoy, filled with life and color. The residents and management were under direction to reduce their water consumption. However, a dead lawn was not serving the community in any way. McCullough Landscape Architecture was invited to work with the ownership staff, residents and general contractor to imagine a solution that achieved a wide range of goals. The design was primarily focused on facilitating social interaction. Other goals for the design were to be cost-effective, colorful, drought tolerant and a space for promoting outdoor activities.

McCullough’s landscape consisted of many diverse design elements. A few of these elements included:

• Masses of colorful native plants that mixed with lush woodland species (which are well suited for shady areas beneath the mature pines and magnolias)
• Special attention was placed on preserving a grove of mature trees that had large root zones, posing a challenge for circulation
• Soft, curvilinear decomposed granite walkways which swayed through textural, mounded garden areas
• Quiet seating areas, or pods, were positioned throughout the garden
• A turf area was reduced by 2/3 through a small formal lawn, allowing a familiar landscape for the residents to remain while also reducing water usage

McCullough has designed a space where the residents are able to fully enjoy the garden  and surrounding nature.

Shawna A. Bortolussi, LEED-AP
Associate Landscape Architect, McCullough Landscape Architecture

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McCullough: Experts on Mixed-Use Urban Development

In a recent article published in the San Diego Business Journal, McCullough discusses how Public-Private Space in Mixed-Use Development can transform the landscape of San Diego.

“It’s a neighborhood, a community, and perhaps most importantly home to families and individuals who live, work, and play within their community,” said David McCullough.

As Seen In San Diego Business Journal

McCullough Projects Nominated for Orchids & Onions Awards

Orchids & Onions is coming. We need your likes, comments and shares to help us win the People’s Choice Award!

McCullough Landscape Architecture is thrilled to announce that we have five stunning projects for the Orchids and Onions awards this year! These projects reflect MLA’s energetic commitment to sustainable design of functional, livable landscapes.

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Crack Shack, Encinitas

A shopping center parking lot is not the kind of site most designers dream of working with. However, we still dreamed up an image of the old Coco’s, almost a ruin, immersed in wild native plants, emerging from a cloud of unruly colors and textures.

We had a planting plan. Neat little symbols arranged on a piece of paper. A composition. A structure. A song. Instead of just handing the sheet music to the musicians, we went out there in person, following the general vibe of the piece…but improvising, positioning each plant, adding detail, flourish and surprise here and there. It was like jazz, but dorky.

A favorite thing about designing landscapes is the freedom for improvisation that other design disciplines forbid. When designing a landscape, if you decide, “I want to add tiny little grasses between all the plants” at the eleventh hour, you can do so. The Crack Shack was a project where we got to enjoy the freedom of improvisation, with a client who could appreciate our love of the medium.

Ben Arcia
Project Manager, McCullough Landscape Architecture, Inc.

View Nominated Project >

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The Campus on Villa La Jolla

An aging site that desperately needed a face-lift, The Campus on Villa La Jolla has become a colorful, engaging landscape that connects pedestrians to the surrounding area with a welcoming outdoor lobby-type space.

View Nominated Project >

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Mesa Commons

Winner of a coveted ULI Award for “Building Healthy Habits”, The Mesa College Commons design maximizes site functionality and strengthens the college’s commitment to sustainability with unique design elements and complementary features. The Commons is the first building of all the San Diego County community colleges to implement an innovative HVAC condensate reclamation system design that will provide 100% of the site’s irrigation needs.

View Nominated Project >

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The Oberlin

The Oberlin is a progressive office campus that connects the indoors to the outdoors, featuring roll-up doors that open to a common outdoor space. Greenery and hedge walls divide the space into outdoor rooms where people can hold meetings, have lunch or just take a break from work.

View Nominated Project >

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The Alexandria

Designed to bring life and energy to a lackluster neighborhood, The Alexandria has been transformed into a vibrant mixed-use commercial space that features an outdoor restaurant patio and social spaces where people can unwind around a fire pit or enjoy an assortment of outdoor lawn games and activities.

View Nominated Project >

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MLA’s Blog Recognized for Top Award

From thousands of top Landscape Architecture blogs, McCullough Landscape Architecture is delighted to have been ranked #44 on Feedspot, a content reader built for power users.

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We’re Sponsors of CREW’s Summer Social

Join us on Thursday, August 24 for the 2017 CREW Summer Social, an exciting opportunity to network and celebrate everything that makes us love San Diego. We are proud to sponsor this event, which includes local food and beverages, artists, raffles and more.

Register here >

McCullough Mixes a Hip, Edgy Feel With “London Sophistication” in LUXE Magazine Cover Story

McCullough is excited to be included in the July/August cover feature for LUXE Magazine on a recent project, a newly built hillside luxury home in La Jolla, California. Entitled “Good Vibrations,” the 12-page article exhibits the vacation property whose owners' tastes ultimately coincided with the hip, edgy feel and cool energy that is so often associated with the West Coast, while retaining a fair degree of London sophistication.

Commissioned by London-based clients, architect Mark Silva collaborated with David McCullough on a new modernist stone-and-wood design to achieve the landscape sophistication the clients wanted. The home’s rectilinear stone walls “splay out at 9 degrees, toward the ocean view…The effect of this is to move the eye toward to watery blue horizon line,” notes Silva. “I also wanted the walls to continue and become part of the outdoor space,” he adds. With sprawling views of the Pacific Ocean, landscape architect David McCullough added, “What you don’t realize is the incredible landscape that sits right below the house. It’s not until you walk out to the rear patio that you realize there is something interesting winding its way down the hill.”

To complement this, David accented the modernist space with vibrant plantings known to thrive within California’s temperate, coastal climate as well as fragrant plantings intended to stimulate the senses. Combining elements of the home’s built environment with the owner's’ unique European tastes and influences, the landscape, much like the interior seeks inspiration from two very different worlds (London and California). It manages, nonetheless to strike a seamless balance between the new and the old, the classic and the contemporary.

Luxe Magazine Article

Mark Silva – Architect

Brady Architectural Photography – Photographer

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David McCullough Speaks on Urban Development at Our City

McCullough Landscape Architecture is thrilled to announce our role as sponsors and participants of “Our City San Diego: Innovations in Mixed-Use Projects.” Principal, David McCullough, will be speaking at the event that will include a panel discussion addressing the benefits of mixed-use projects as a form of urban development that is both functional and desirable. Addressing a wide array of related topics including project planning, financing, and design, participants are expected to obtain a better understanding and gather practical knowledge of an increasingly popular form of architecture and development.

Register Here >

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The McCulloughs of North Park

“I am not concerned about a legacy for myself, but about leaving behind a better world than the world I was born into,” commented David in this month’s cover story in North Park News. When you walk the streets of North Park and throughout the urban landscape of San Diego, you can experience David’s vision for a better place. His firm, led along with his wife Catherine, is dedicated to working with developers, architects and San Diego’s communities to make outdoor spaces more livable, accessible, environmentally sustainable and beautiful.

Read the article and see McCullough's design >

MLA Contributes to Win Top ULI Award

McCullough Landscape Architecure’s design for the Mesa Commons Cafe & Bookstore landscape design took a coveted ULI Award for “Eat Better Think Better – Building Healthy Habits.” The Urban Land Institute recognizes real estate projects that support public health and encourage communities to acquire healthier lifestyles. The Commons is the first building of all the San Diego County community colleges to implement an innovative HVAC condensate reclamation system design that will provide 100% of the site’s irrigation needs.

MLA congratulates the entire project team

• Developer: San Diego Community College District
• Mesa College: Gayla Pierce
• General Contractor: Balfour Beatty Construction
• Architects: SGPA Architecture & Planning, Miller Hull Partnership
• Structural Engineer: Hope-Amundson
• Engineering Planning: Latitude 33
• Mechanical Engineer: MA Engineers
• Landscape Architect: McCullough Landscape Architecture
• Interior Design: ID Studios
• Wayfinding: Graphic Solutions

Read our Mesa College Commons case study >

More about The Urban Land Institute San Diego-Tijuana >

ULI Award Photo Gallery

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Faces of Innovation:
Hatch Magazine Profiles David McCullough

We are pleased to say that Hatch, a San Diego Magazine sister publication, recently profiled MLA’s founder/Principal Architect David McCullough and other influential designers in San Diego.

Read David’s profile >

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Thanks for the “Groovy” Time!

Catherine and David mix it up at the annual SMPS golf tournament. Dig those earrings!

SMPS San Diego’s annual golf tournament was the real deal! Thanks for stopping by and doing the Shimmy down our red carpet. Sponsoring this event is a highlight for us each year. Thank you SMPS San Diego and congratulations to the winner of our GoPlayGolf gift card, Chad Koelling of CH2M Hill.

Art on the Land

A Clear Vision for San Diego’s Landscape

McCullough Landscape Architecture is featured in the current issue of the San Diego Downtown News. The article by Delle Willett, a veteran journalist known for her reporting on conservation and the environment, begins with the short version of the firm’s history. More importantly, she writes about the firm’s vision — designing sustainable, living environments where people live, work, study and play. David, the firm’s principal landscape architect and Catherine, president of the firm, form a powerhouse of energy and commitment to the built environment.

“I believe our staff, led by my husband, can make an impact on our built environment and am happy to support in making our community a better place.”
Catherine McCullough

Read the Full Article →

SMPS Golf Tournament

We’re sponsors! SMPS San Diego annual golf tournament is just around the corner on June 2. Last day to sign up is May 26th.

It's not too late! Register now →

SDAF CONTEXT Vol. 4

On June 6, the San Diego Architectural Foundation Context Volume 4: Neighborhoods 2027 “aims to shift the public dialogue about new development” in our city. We are also sponsoring this event!

Register today →