GARDEN

Southlands Residence

Vancouver, BC

Horses and goats and chickens... Oh my! This landscape design helped to situate a beautiful new residence within it's site and context. New flood-based regulations requiring construction in the neighbourhood to be built higher than surrounding grades necessitated strategic thinking in grading design. The site design includes paddocks for horses and goats, a chicken coop, and a 'Paddock Paradise', a fenced trail system to encourage horses to exercise by walking around the property. An orchard frames the main entry experience while a kitchen garden featuring herbs and vegetable beds nestles between the house and barn.

Architecture by Michel Laflamme Architect. With Hapa Collaborative, completed as SOFT SCAPE. Sarah acted as principal.

Gardens are fundamental to our practice

Sarah has been involved in the design of private gardens in Northern Ontario, Martha's Vinyard, New York's Hudson Valley and The Hamptons, Vancouver's North Shore, Southlands, and Burnaby. Sarah's interest in landscape architecture came first through an appreciation and study of gardens and horticulture. She worked and apprenticed at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden where she learned the fundamentals of caring for plants and maintaining ornamental landscapes. Sarah added to her education in garden design and care by studying at the Portland Japanese Garden International Training Centre. This grounding in gardens means that she approaches the design of landscapes with an appreciation for what it will mean to take care of them, and how they will change over time. Our approach to designing for private gardens is to work hard to understand both what the client needs functionally from their site, but also what they like stylistically. This is very different from designing for the public. A private garden is designed for the people who will live in it, as an extension of their home. It may be idiosyncratic because it is for a specific person or family, each of which is unique. We love working with people to understand how to make a garden which feels like their own, which is comfortable to be in, and to take care of.

Additional single family residential work:

As Project Lead With Hapa Collaborative:

Burnaby Residence, with Michael Green Architecture, 2016

Prescott Street Residence, 2024

With Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA)

Martha's Vinyard Residence, MA, 2010

Accord Residence, NY, 2010