Single Family Residential
Ocean Meadows Investors, LLC
Stantec | Civil Engineering
DesignARC Santa Barbara | Architect
AlfaTech | Lighting Design
Courtney Jane Miller
At CJM::LA we seek out opportunities to create positive change in our community. The 2020 Design Charrette organized by the Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Institute of Architects aimed to Reinvigorate, Reinvent, Reimagine, and Repurpose our downtown with housing, energy, and life. Both Courtney and Mariella from our office joined the charrette to work with local architects, planners, designers, students, citizens and professionals to develop a new vision for the design of our downtown core to lead us into the next 100 years.
Courtney collaborated with team B whose focus was on the downtown open spaces including the state street promenade, parks and plazas. Here are highlights of team B’s presentation of a new shared pedestrian promenade integrating stadium seating, stormwater, outdoor dining and public art.
Courtney’s words chosen to inspire a lively promenade and community
Courtney’s plan and elevation of what a complete street in Santa Barbara could look like
Mariella collaborated with team 6A whose area of focus were the blocks between Figueroa, Carrillo, Anacapa and Chapala streets; encompassing the transit center, local eateries, banks and other essential infrastructure to our downtown core. Here are some of their design ideas that revitalize the transit center; integrating bus, bicycle and ride share, adding housing, retail spaces and open space to form a highly functioning and invigorating entrance to downtown Santa Barbara.
in person collaborative sketching with Dee Carawan and Tai Yeh
a quick sketch of Mariella’s used in the virtual design collaboration process
Dee Carawan’s final drawing of the transit center block
Thank you to all of our team members and to everyone who helped participate and organize this historical collaborative effort. You can watch the full recording of the design team presentations here. The AIASB
The Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Institute of Architects put together the 2020 Design Charrette to Reinvigorate, Reinvent, Reimagine, and Repurpose our Downtown with housing, energy, and life. On Wednesday, each of the sixteen design teams presented their key recommendations and design concepts to the public via a zoom webinar. You can watch the recording of the design team presentations here.
For the past two months, over 150 volunteer architects, landscape architects, planners, civil engineers, designers, property owners and associated stakeholders have been hard at work developing a new vision for Santa Barbara’s downtown core. The Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Institute of Architects put together the 2020 Design Charrette to Reinvigorate, Reinvent, Reimagine, and Repurpose our Downtown with housing, energy, and life.
At 6 PM on Wednesday, October 21, 2020 each of the sixteen design teams will present their key recommendations and design concepts to the public via a zoom webinar. All are welcome! Please join Courtney, Mariella and the Santa Barbara community for this exciting event!
Click here to join the webinar!
Password: 937473
We are thrilled to have our Dune parklet awarded a Santa Barbara Beautiful ‘Golden Leaf Award’ through our participation with Allen Construction‘s ‘Locals Helping Locals’ program. Thank you Allen Construction, Dune Coffee, Santa Barbara Beautiful and the Santa Barbara community for showing creative resiliency throughout this pandemic.
WHO: Santa Barbara Beautiful continues a 55 Year tradition of beautification with “Golden Leaf Awards”.
WHAT: SBB honors local businesses & organizations who showed leadership during this challenging time of Covid-19 Pandemic to enhance public space & support the arts.
HARD NUMBERS: (60) Hand-Calligraphed Awards Certificates for “Outstanding Community Support”
QUOTE: “We’re honored to celebrate our 55th Anniversary with Golden Leaf Awards – dedicated to the strength of our community & the individuals who have given joy to our city during difficult times. Congratulations to each and every one!” ~ Penny Haberman, President SB Beautiful.
Since 1965, Santa Barbara Beautiful has planted over 12,000 trees, provided over $500,,000 in grants to support local art and design projects, funded scholarships to students majoring in environmental horticulture & architecture, and celebrated numerous individuals, residences, and businesses that have demonstrated exceptional efforts to make Santa Barbara beautiful.
The purpose of Santa Barbara Beautiful is to stimulate community interest and action toward the enhancement of Santa Barbara’s beauty as a complement to current and future government and private activity.
Santa Barbara Beautiful is an organization of volunteers dedicated to beautifying our area in a variety of ways not only by working independently but also by cooperating with city departments, neighborhood association and other agencies. Formed in 1965 by concerned civic leaders, Santa Barbara Beautiful is a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation. Contributions are tax-deductible
Our friends at DUNE Coffee believe that specialty coffee is for everyone, and should be accessible, approachable and fun. In May of this year, Santa Barbara City Council voted 7-0 to close State Street to cars in an effort to flatten the curve of Covid-19. The owners of DUNE wanted to use this opportunity to create an inviting, bold and unique experience for the community. Our concept was to create modular, multi-use seating elements for people to sit, perch or lean on while they chat, read, think, people watch or simply sip some coffee.
CJM::LA worked closely with the owners of DUNE and Allen Construction to make the parklet come to life. Allen Construction has been supporting the Santa Barbara community through their ‘Locals Helping Locals’ program, where they offer free labor to help local businesses stay open through the pandemic. We cannot thank the team at Allen enough for their hard work and collaboration, we could not have done it without them!
parklet rendering by CJM::LA
work from home style sketch explorations by CJM::LA
installation day time-lapse
Allen Construction installing the parklet modules
CJM::LA and Allen Construction reviewing module spacing
Courtney and Mari selecting plants at La Sumida Nursery – Chondropetalum tectorum and Dianella ‘Cassa Blue’
Mari masking out pink stripes at the parklet
peaking through the palms at the parklet
Part 2: More myth-busting as we continue to address common misconceptions about landscape architecture.
Larger, denser cities are cleaner and more energy efficient than smaller, suburban towns. Suburban and rural towns may have immediate access to open space and wildlands outside city limits because of their more dispersed organization, but large cities can emulate natural ecologies.
Street trees, courtyards, green roofs and living walls, along with botanic gardens and parks provide a network of outdoor spaces that enhance the biological diversity of our cities and help provide essential infrastructure. This framework of planted spaces is able to capture and treat urban run-off, lower temperatures, improve air quality and provide resilience against climate change. Gardens and community farms also provide food and improve human health.
At CJM::LA, we help make our cities healthier and greener by advocating for more planting and functional outdoor space, especially in our densest multi-family housing projects; designing public parks, paseos, and green roofs; and improving city streetscapes.
transplanted Mexican fan palms line the stairs at Bella Riviera workforce homes in Santa Barbara, CA
plant pockets and climbing vines beautify the drive aisles at the East Beach Collection in Santa Barbara, CA | architect: WHA
live roof at the Hilton Garden Inn in Goleta, CA
textural plantings line the sidewalk at the Arlington Village apartments in downtown Santa Barbara, CA
entry plantings at homes designed for Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County in downtown Santa Barbara, CA
citrus trees within over-structure planters create a beautiful courtyard at Bella Riviera workforce homes
mediterranean plantings within raised planters help create opportunities for outdoor seating
neighborly gifts grown in downtown Santa Barbara, CA
During a prolonged drought, there is less available water in the natural ecosystem, which negatively impacts human food and water security. Less water available in aquifers and other natural water bodies means less water for the agricultural industry and for our cities.
Landscape architects provide drought resilience by designing systems to comprehensively and efficiently manage water resources. By implementing bioretention basins, rainwater cisterns, efficient irrigation, greywater recycling and use of climate-adapted and native plants, we optimize our water resources and reallocate the potable water supply for drinking use.
It might seem counter-intuitive, but plants improve our ability to resist the impacts of drought by improving soil health, allowing soils to better capture and store water. Plants also sequester carbon, lower air temperatures, and if used in applications like green roofs, reduce building energy use and reduce the urban heat island effect. We shouldn’t eliminate plants because they use water. Instead, we should be smarter about how we supply plants with water and which plants we elect to use.
Want more info? See these additional links about drought resilience and using green infrastructure to mitigate the impacts of other hazards, like wildfires and climate change.
bioretention plants treat stormwater runoff at the Direct Relief headquarters in Santa Barbara, CA.
We encounter the work of landscape architects every day, although that work is often overlooked and experienced only in passing. Landscapes are the natural setting, the backdrop of our lives. However, the truth is that our cities and neighborhoods are carefully and deliberately constructed. Landscape architecture is the practice of fusing the natural, built and social environments to create a more engaging and dynamic world.
CJM::LA is excited to share the breadth of our profession by addressing some common misconceptions about landscape architecture in a two-part post.
This video by the ASLA shows how public parks can revitalize under-served communities. At CJM::LA, we provide a wide-range of design services for a variety of clients. A sampling of this diversity includes the following project types (as shown below): public park, hospitality, native creek restoration and non-profit.
Santa Barbara locals exercise at the oceanfront Cabrillo Ball Park
drought tolerant plantings frame lounge seating at The Everly hotel in West Hollywood, CA
raised planters create intimate spaces on the rooftop deck at The Everly hotel in West Hollywood, CA
entry plantings welcome you the Inn at the Pier in Pismo, CA
board-form concrete planters at Inn at the Pier in Pismo, CA
native creek restoration plan for Los Olivos, CA
permeable concrete pavers under construction at Unity of Santa Barbara
Every project we design at CJM::LA is beautiful and functional. Landscape architects contribute to the essential infrastructure of our cities and communities through design and construction of storm water management systems. We improve air quality and reduce energy use when we plant trees. We support healthier living and reduce vehicle emissions by providing recreation opportunities, bike racks and designing safer streets.
The following images demonstrate how CJM::LA has incorporated some of these essential infrastructure elements: bioretention and filtration basins, exercise equipment, bike racks and plans for future shared, multi-modal streets.
“Filterra” proprietary biofiltration planters by Contech, with native Juncus patens
Direct Relief bioretention basin after a rain event: roof run-off captured and treated!
we design spaces for people to get out, breathe, and decompress
we improve air quality with the addition of carbon-sequestering trees and plants
we support alternative modes of transportation: the ”Twist” bike rack from Forms + Surfaces
preliminary landscape plan with a shared street, proposed in Goleta, CA
preliminary landscape plan and shared street for a residential development in Ventura, CA
April is World Landscape Architecture Month (WLAM), a worldwide celebration of the impact this profession has on our daily lives.
As a part of our ongoing stewardship of the profession, this month we’re showcasing landscape architecture to the world and inviting the public to learn about what we do! People hold profound connections to the spaces where they live, work and play. This year we are celebrating the relationship between us and our environment. We look forward to demonstrating the impact that thoughtful design solutions have on our collective quality of life. Each week we’ll be posting something new, stay tuned!
We encourage you to join us in celebrating the landscape architectural profession by posting pictures from your neighborhood that highlight landscape architectural design with the hashtags #WLAM2020 and #LifeGrowsHere.
Be sure to tag @NationalASLA
Find out more about Landscape Architecture educational opportunities here.
Are you a K-12 educator interested in sharing landscape architecture with your students?
Learn more about Landscape Architecture education for teachers here
Are you hosting a virtual story time for your child? Check this out:
Green Trees and Sam by Shannon Gapp, ASLA/Bolton & Menk.
Read Full Article:
Floating Food Forest in New York
May 3, 2016
Dezeen
Image courtesy of Dezeen
With land so scare in the urban core, and free food not allowed to be grown on public land, a collective of designers and artists have come up with a solution. A repurposed barge allows enough space to grow a series of crops that can be open to everyone, as well as having the ability to be mobile.
Click here to read more about this project.
Read Full Article:
2175 Market Street
April 28, 2016
Landezine
Image courtesy of Patrik Argast
A LEED platinum project, this 88 unit apartment complex in San Francisco is sure to be the envy of its neighbors. Built to accommodate the influx of young tech workers and families moving into the urban core, the design maximizes outdoor entertaining spaces with terraces and a roof deck with eye catching color and form.
Click here to read more about this project.
Read Full Article:
Marc Fornes uses over 1,000 perforated aluminium shingles for Texas park sculpture
April 26, 2016
Dezeen
Image courtesy of Dezeen
The French and American studio of Marc Fornes has created its first permanent installation in the United States. Located at the gateway of a century old park in San Antonio, the sculpture is made up of 1,009 perforated aluminum shingles fastened together by 19,429 rivets. The digitally designed installation serves as a prime example of exploratory structural design to create iconic public spaces.
Click here to read more about this cutting edge design.
