This restaurant, located in a Simi Valley strip mall, was once a Japanese restaurant with Japanese-style architecture. The new place, a Texas BBQ restaurant, was remodeled and we were hired by the architectural firm to make the landscape fit the Western theme and meet city building codes. My aim with this design was to both honor the cultural heritage of Texas BBQ and to provide a sanctuary for hungry flora in a commercial landscape that is typically void of places for birds and other life.  

Texas is a big state with various climates and landscapes. I started my inspiration for this project by researching what region of Texas that Texas BBQ comes from. Then I researched the landscape of that area (central Texas), and once I had a grasp on that region’s plant pallet I looked to plants that fit that aesthetic and that would thrive in Simi Velley. I then chose plants that would provide forage for native birds and insects. The final factors that determined the rest of the design was to create space that would hold up to the landscaping practices of a large commercial strip mall landscape maintenance crew.