Tag Archives: ATOMIC RANCH STYLE
Brooks Kolb’s “Atomic Ranch House” Garden Design featured in “Pacific NW” Magazine
A photograph of Seattle Landscape Architect Brooks Kolb’s garden design was included in a “Northwest Living” story in the March 3, 2012 Seattle Times “Pacific NW” Magazine. Bearing the expressive title, “Big Blast from the Atomic Ranch Past,” Becky Teagarden’s article describes the creative and meticulous way in which Sabrina Libertty restored her West Seattle mid-century modern home with exuberant furnishings, art and industrial design from the period. Brooks’ job as landscape architect was to fulfill Sabrina’s dream of a mid-century modern garden such as one would expect to find in Palm Springs. It didn’t hurt that a huge cache of red lava rock gravel covered most of the side yard, and we recycled it as pebble banding in new poured concrete pathways.
Built on several levels, the new garden is divided into two sub-spaces, one for the primary use of the owners, plus a smaller outdoor terrace and deck for their vacation rental guests in “Suite Shagalicious,” downstairs below the main living space. Horizontally clad fences were designed to harmonize with the existing railing on an upper deck. The owner’s garden features a paved cove with a portable fire feature. An invisible turf paving system called “Geoblock” was used to create an occasional parking space.Watch Full Movie Streaming Online and Download
Here’s a link to the article and Ben Benschneider’s photograph of the architecture and landscape:
http://seattletimes.com/html/pacificnw/2020397759_pacificpnwl03.htm
Meanwhile, here’s a photograph taken toward the end of the contsruction:
“Growing Gracefully” – A Brooks Kolb North Capitol Hill Garden Featured in “Pacific NW” Magazine
The Entry Gates – all photos by Seattle Times Photographer, Mike Siegel
Seattle Landscape Architect Brooks Kolb was once again featured in the Seattle Times’ “Pacific NW” Magazine on September 7, 2014, in an article by the noted Times garden writer, Valerie Easton. Titled “Growing Gracefully, A Redesign mixes the best of old and new,” the column lead with the following paragraphs:
“It’s not often a landscape architect gets another shot at a garden he designed years ago. But when horticulturist Sue Nicol was hired to come up with a fresh plant palette for an aging Capitol Hill garden, she asked Brooks Kolb to collaborate with her on the project. And it turns out that Kolb, along with his partner, Bill Talley, had renovated the garden in 1997 for an earlier owner.” ….New owners Don and Marty Sands “remodeled the (1932 brick Tudor) inside and out, then turned their attention to updating the garden. The couple appreciated the dramatic entry gates, as well as the matuing Japanese maples, Korean dogwoods and Hinoki cypress from the earlier renovation. Marty loves how the garden wraps around the house ‘like a little haven.’ And she calls the majestic copper beech that dominates the scene ‘a Grandfather tree.’”
Since the house is located on the corner of a curving street near Interlaken Boulevard, Brooks loved the original opportunity to remove a scruffy lawn, replacing it with a path that curves parallel to the road, connecting several distinct garden rooms along the way.
All photos by Seattle Times Photographer, Mike Siegel: The House and Rockery from the Street; the Entry Gates
The Birdbath with Japanese Forest Grass; Owners Marty and Don Sands
The Fountain in 1997; The Fountain Today, with its Lily Bud Jet
Inteviewing Brooks, Valerie asked, “What was it like for Kolb to re-imagine a garden he designed long ago? ‘It’s a wonderful chance to come back in and retool a garden,’ he says. He planted a necklace of new daphnes around the old fountain and left alone the huge white wisteria growing on the hefty arbor at the side of the house.”
Brooks also relished the opportunity to work collaboratively with Sue Nicol, whose contributions to the jointly designed planting plan included the “intensely fragrant” Daphne bholua and ‘Korean Apricot’ chrysanthemums, among many other selections. Brooks has collaborated with Sue for her horticultural and arborist expertise on a number of Seattle area garden designs.
