Hospitality, Renovation
AXIS/GFA | Architect
Beleco | Interior Design
Shepard Westnitzer | Civil Engineering
Courtney Jane Miller
Cameron Hunt
We are pleased to announce that Courtney Jane Miller is now licensed in the state of Arizona!
We are now accepting new projects in Sedona, Phoenix and the surrounding areas.
We are thrilled to announce the Direct Relief Headquarters has been awarded a U.S. Green Building Council 2020 Green Award by the Central Coast Green Building Council. Thank you to DMHA , our incredible client and the entire project team.
The Green Awards highlight innovative design, construction, products, businesses, schools, governments and educational programs.
Check out this video of our project by DMHA highlighting the project team’s collaborative successes in designing a sustainable, efficient, beautiful and thoughtful site for the Direct Relief headquarters, offices and distribution center.
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
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.
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.
We are excited to announce that Nicole Horn has been promoted to Associate Principal at our Santa Barbara design studio!
Nicole joined CJM::LA in 2016. With both Masters of Landscape Architecture and City and Regional Planning degrees, she has brought expertise in urban planning, resource management and landscape architectural design to the CJM::LA team. This interdisciplinary background has enabled her to bring forward not only innovative design solutions, but also strategic planning solutions to help guide our projects through the entitlement, permitting and construction processes.
Over the past three years, Nicole has demonstrated her leadership capabilities through the implementation of a number of contributions to CJM::LA and our extended community. Her role as a board member of the Ventura Botanical Gardens has allowed her to advocate for climate-appropriate design and resilience. Her involvement in our studio has resulted in a collaborative design approach that prioritizes environmental, economic and social sustainability to the benefit of our community and clients. Nicole pushes herself and others to take risks, innovate and surpass conventional design roles and traditions.
In her new role as Associate Principal and Director of Operations, Nicole will lead our design team in the implementation of a series of objectives to help better streamline our workflow and expand our creative output. She and our President, Courtney Jane Miller, will continue to push the boundary of the expected as they lead CJM::LA towards a successful future.
We are excited to announce the return of our Design Intern, Mariella Dentzel, at our Santa Barbara design studio!
Mariella comes to us with experience in product, furniture and installation design and fabrication. While at CJM::LA, she has begun to apply the creative problem solving skills she developed as part of her degree in product design to the field of landscape architecture. Mariella values the sense of place that successful designed spaces bring to our collective experience of the environment around us. In her free time, Mariella enjoys exploring new environments on her bike and climbing mountains!
Congratulations to Nicole Horn on her recent major professional milestone of achieving licensure in the state of California!
We are so proud of Nicole! She has been with us for two years, and has been an invaluable addition to the CJM::LA team.