Desert residence framed by native boulders, cacti, and a mountain at dusk.

WABI-SABI HOUSE

Palm Springs, CAStatus — BuiltRole — Landscape design lead · Project management · Field coordinationPractice — Hoerr Schaudt

My contribution

—Led landscape design from concept through installation, including project management and field coordination.
—Developed the site composition in response to existing boulders, arroyos, and desert ecology, coordinating with Jill Lewis Architecture.
—Directed granite boulder placement and specimen-tree installation on site.
—Developed planting design and coordinated drainage to support the landscape composition and retain stormwater on site.

Project Overview

The Wabi-Sabi House is an integrated landscape and architectural composition set within a hillside Palm Springs desert context.

Challenge: Integrate a home and garden with a dramatic desert hillside.
Design response: Existing boulders, arroyos and desert planting guide outdoor rooms, framed views and material relationships. Boulders, specimen trees and drainage are composed together to reinforce the site and retain stormwater.

Landscape–Interior Relationship

Boulders, cacti, and distant landforms framed from within the house.

Bedroom opening toward a boulder garden, columnar cacti, and distant desert mountains.

Bedroom view to the boulder garden

Entry-hall pivot door opening to a desert garden with concrete stepping stones and a cactus.

Entry threshold to the meditation space

Finished Landscape

A courtyard axis extends through the house toward the mountains.

Courtyard axis extending through the open house toward a distant mountain range at golden hour.

Courtyard axis to the distant mountains

Outdoor Rooms

Desert planting, shade trees, boulders, and gathering spaces are organized as extensions of the house.

Shaded courtyard with a mature tree, golden barrel cacti, and a lounge chair beside dark wood-clad architecture.

Mesquite shade tree at gravel garden

Outdoor courtyard dining area with a long wooden table, stools, and an outdoor kitchen against a boulder-strewn slope.

Outdoor gathering area at zero edge pool

Columnar cacti rising from a boulder garden of weathered desert stones.

Forms and textures

Materials, Boulders + Arroyo

Material study — arroyo, boulders, paving, and stone.

Arroyo drainage feature of rounded boulders beside a board-formed concrete wall.

Arroyo, boulders, and desert planting

Top-down material study of river pebbles and decorative landscape glass.

Stone and glass gravel study

Construction Process

Site grading and paving bands under construction.

Wabi-Sabi House site under construction at dusk with boulders and concrete pads.

Driveway paving bands and site grading in progress

Mature Tree Installation

Specimen-tree installation, directed on site.

Specimen tree arrival and placement

Dusk Experience

Architecture and landscape settle into the surrounding mountain terrain.

House and boulder garden at dusk

One year of growth

As planting establishes, the landscape's structure becomes more apparent: grasses soften architectural edges, vegetation settles around existing boulders, and outdoor spaces become more closely connected to the desert hillside.