UNKAI-
OCEAN OF CLOUDS GARDEN
SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS, CA
ROLE: LANDSCAPE DESIGNER
Project Team: Santa Cruz Green Architects, Stillwater Dwellings, & Client
THE PLACE
Perched above the Santa Cruz Mountains, the garden looks across a valley where clouds gather and dissolve like a tide. The landscape is shaped by this shifting horizon, as well as by the need to rebuild after fire.
THE IDEA
Unkai—“ocean of clouds”—becomes the garden’s central metaphor. Ephemeral clouds give form to the valley, expressing impermanence, flow, and ma: the meaningful void between things. The garden translates these ideas into a sequence of spaces that move between enclosure and openness, geometry and organic form.
LAND + FORM
A framework of geometric paving, paths, walls, and fences transitions into softer garden forms. The ichimatsu checkerboard pattern provides architectural order, while kasumi—a traditional mist pattern—is abstracted through flowing masses of California lilac, creating transitions and layered views.
PLANTING
Native and fire-conscious planting forms a structured garden of trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and meadow-like layers. Evergreen forest, deciduous trees, and seasonal color establish depth and enclosure, while California lilac carries the kasumi motif through the garden.
MATERIAL + CRAFT
Local granite gravel, Sonoma boulders, permeable paving, weathered brick, and simple metal and wood structures give the garden a tactile, contemporary character. Existing sculptures and salvaged materials are woven into the new landscape, acknowledging both memory and renewal.
THE EXPERIENCE
The garden unfolds as a series of framed scenes—arrival, welcome, retreat, and reflection. Gates, fences, planting, and shifting patterns mark transitions, while views toward the mountains become borrowed scenery. The result is a landscape of quiet movement and transformation, where architecture gradually dissolves into garden.
The garden is currently in the final stages of design, with construction begining fall of 2026.