Are You Skimping on Landscape Design?

NEWPORT BEACH, CA—Landscaping is one of the most impactful elements of a development, yet it often gets underplayed in the budget, Lifescapes International's president Julie Brinkerhoff-Jacobs tells Globest.com. The locally based firm has been selected as the landscape architect for Paradise City, an integrated entertainment and gaming resort in Incheon, South Korea, which is planned to span 83 acres. Lifescapes will design a large Las Vegas-style main entry, the exterior perimeter of the resort, a resort-style pool, poolside bars, wedding gardens, private villas and gardens that will flow throughout the project. We spoke exclusively with Brinkerhoff-Jacobs about the assignment and how landscape design fits into an overall development plan.

GlobeSt.com: What stands out for you the most about the Paradise City project?

Brinkerhoff-Jacobs: One of our specialties has been doing destination-resort casinos all over the world. We began in the US in Las Vegas for Steve Wynn when we designed the landscaping for the Mirage Hotel & Casino. This was the first casino resort facility to be built in Las Vegas at that time, in 1989. It was the first casino of this revitalization that happened in Las Vegas, which led to many, many other opportunities for us and other developers. They've been taking us with them to other destinations across the US and into Asia and Europe.

What's significant about Paradise City is, we usually get a lot of recommendations to become part of a design team from the architects. In this case, Paradise City had known about us because of the quantity and quality of projects given to us by our clients in Las Vegas, and they told the architects they wanted us to be their landscape architect of choice. Gaming has opened up in South Korea, and this is the first of two or three other casino opportunities the government has approved there. In the case of Paradise City, this was strategic and necessary because Korea wanted to have an international presence in international gaming but also with Sega as a partner in the project.

Their emphasis for their integrated resort was to focus on external as well as internal gardens. There are quite a few areas on the property where there are going to be weddings and private functions, so the design is really geared toward events at the property. This is much more of a distinction for Asian properties than it is for US-based properties. Paradise City is very much driven by international conventions, weddings and business meetings. In the US, there are not as many weddings focused on casinos, but weddings in Asia have a certain amount of cachet when they're associated with these large projects.

The gardens are a very important part of the design puzzle, as well as the architects and interior designers. We've made a wonderful career designing beautiful gardens, and we're known as the set designers of landscape architecture. We believe gardens make people feel better and will keep them at a casino hotel, regular resort or retail center longer. The same is true for Paradise City. We've had great success in integrating the entertaining aspects and the gaming aspects within a beautiful environment. The Paradise City landscape will benefit the resort and the city. The local developer is known for doing small boutique hotels and never took on this large a project before; this is new for them, so they needed a partnership.  But they are also looking to attract international customers, so they needed to make sure this property was going to be pretty special.

GlobeSt.com: How should developers approach landscape design when planning for an overall development?

Brinkerhoff-Jacobs: The way we have been working for many years, the architect and the planner, who is usually on the team, already have figured out the footprint of the site plan.  Shortly after that, if a developer is sophisticated, they will bring in a landscape architect. We will tweak because the architect is more focused on internal spaces and some aspects of the outside of a development, so they bring in people who focus on their specific discipline day in and day out. Usually, the architecture style is set by the architect, but there is always a team that makes these properties successful.

The nice thing about working with the architect on this project is that we have worked with them for 20 years on all kinds of projects, and they know our style and vice versa. Neither the architecture nor the landscape architecture is developed within a vacuum—we all work together. It's very much an integrated way of working.

It's critical for us to have a site plan created by the architect, and we really emphasize to our clients to invest in the garden areas and use big trees. People are interested in having not only beautiful gardens, but they want a mature environment, so big trees are important. We do not design in a vacuum—it's a team effort. We're fortunate to have clients like Steve Wynn and Sheldon Addison from the Sands who really understand and appreciate and continue to hire us to do very beautiful gardens because it improves their bottom lines. We help the owners make money. We'll be 30 years with Steve Wynn next year—it's a long-term relationship. It's important to deliver for the benefit of the property owner and for our company.

GlobeSt.com: What are the challenges to incorporating landscape design in development planning?

Brinkerhoff-Jacobs: The landscape architects know more about the budget for the garden than for that of the building. We can usually give developers our opinion on probable cost for landscape architecture very early in the design process. Architects can't do that as early with the building design budget because it's too complicated, so they depend on contractors and construction managers to help with those numbers. 

The percentage spent on landscaping is small compared to the rest of the project—usually between 2% and 5%—and yet the impact that landscape design has on the overall property is great. It's the most visual aspect of your project, but traditionally there is not enough allowed in the budget; they would rather spend the money in architecture, but that's not where the immediate impact comes from. This has always been a fascinating argument to have: you still need to build expensive buildings, but the customer's point of view is from the street forward, and that's where our work begins.

When value engineering comes along, it usually hits landscape design rather than architecture. Most of the time, we have that discussion with the client no matter what the project; it's part of the dance we go through with clients.

We like to make sure we get involved early enough to provide the best solutions and best use of plant materials to make the most impact for the property. You want to make sure you get the best bang for your buck. We get into a very careful analysis when we're doing that. So, you have to time it right because you need to locate these big plants and trees six months before a project begins in order to get them in in time. There's only a finite number of plant materials available at any given time, so you have to be quick on your feet.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this project?

Brinkerhoff-Jacobs: Al Amador, senior principal designer and landscape architect at Lifescapes, is responsible for creating the look of this property.