Concrete Chic

Concrete is the floor of choice for the urban jungle--inexpensive and built to last as long as a Roman road. But because it’s ubiquitous and cheap and hard, concrete is sometimes looked down on as a paving, especially in upscale gardens. “When I told people I was going to concrete my yard, they said, ‘Oh no!’” says Stefan Smith, a director of commercials and music videos who lives in Venice. A year later, naysayers have come around. “Now that plants are in, it’s a softer place,” Smith says. “Great for parties, great at night.”

Despite concrete’s omnipresence in the front, side and backyards of his lot on a pedestrian-only street, it’s not oppressive. In front, slabs are set on recessed bases and seem to float across the pond, which is edged with lawn and equisetum. Along the side of the house, a path of pavers seamed with pebbles shows the way through a bamboo grove. In the back garden, the paving is broken into parts, allowing water to drain through while setting off different gardens. Civilized by sprouting grasses and framed with rocks, the concrete here is even raised in spots to form cube-shaped planters and cushioned seats. “It’s a versatile, workable material,” notes Smith, who has done much of the garden work himself since buying the house seven years ago.

Since then, in collaboration with Venice architect Lise Matthews, he has transformed his 1920s bungalow into a wood, concrete and metal contemporary structure, a loft-like city house near the beach. His vision for it, he explains, is “relaxed, a little spa-like. Spare but comfortable.”

Stefan Hammerschmidt, a Venice landscape designer, has helped Smith take this vision outside, creating calm as well as practical spaces that reflect his pared-down aesthetic. Because Smith works long hours and frequently travels, Hammerschmidt conceived a garden of mainly greens--serene and low-maintenance. Beginning in front with a hedge of Carolina laurel cherry, he added four types of bamboo for screening, silver weeping acacia for contrast and, in the back, an array of succulents, perennials, New Zealand flax and grasses. Some grow in pots, others seed themselves in pavement gaps. “Strange things shoot up in sidewalks,” Hammerschmidt says. This inspired him to plant oddities such as water chestnuts and variegated strawberries.

Hammerschmidt pushed the limits of the small lot to maximize use and drama. It was his idea to craft a walkway that seemingly floats over a pond “to create the illusion of leaving the world behind.” In the same area, he seized a detail from Smith’s own Santa Monica office--cubicle walls made from surplus airplane wing flaps, using one from an old B-52. “Some people are afraid to try new things. I’m kind of the opposite,” says Smith, a Missouri native who attended Chicago’s Art Institute and was a founding member of the production company Miss Jones four years ago.

In Austrian-born Hammerschmidt, Smith found a kindred soul. Both enjoy building projects and relish working with their hands. When they couldn’t find a certain planter, Hammerschmidt dug a hole, made a mold and poured in concrete. Smith ran with the idea, forging concrete pots in a range of shapes and sizes. Then there’s the concrete cube, a guiding design motif that came to Hammerschmidt as he studied the house. “Once he said the word ‘cube,’ I was sold,” Smith says. “It’s a simple, durable shape. You can put anything on it, make it a table, a chair, an art object. It’s perfect for my house.”

So perfect, he has taken the cube inside, working its form into shelf designs and other furnishings. The first outdoor cube--designed by Hammerschmidt and built by Smith from stuccoed, reinforced concrete blocks--was a seat beside the pond. In the rear garden, more cubes became the plant containers, tables and benches that divide and shape the outdoor rooms. Beneath a pergola, which doubles as a carport, there’s a dining table and a bed for naps, both tucked among cubes. A fireplace warming an outdoor living room is flanked by cubes, with a pair of lounge chairs nearby.

Among the cubes, there’s evidence of more Smith enthusiasms, such as bonsai trees, which he has shaped for years, and citrus and other edibles. In the future, he plans to raise vegetables on his roof. For now, he’s content with plants that get along with concrete, especially those that like his custom pots. “In my work, I think so much,” he says. “It’s nice to shape something with my hands.”

*

RESOURCE GUIDE

Hammerschmidt Landscape Design, Venice, (310) 578-5012; Lise Matthews & Associates, Venice, (310) 399-7108.