Current Projects: Water Feature Courtyard

In the design for Salem courtyard, a water feature was envisioned; a foci for the courtyard space as well as the living room and kitchen of the home. 

The new courtyard and planting behind, frame an outdoor space for entertaining and intimate get-togethers.   The planting proposed behind the water feature carries the eye to the impressive tree canopies to the north - providing a scenic backdrop for the dinner parties, barbeques and morning coffees that are sure to come. 

Current Projects: The Modern Rain Garden

Perspective - Looking North

Recognizing the potential to capture water on site, the rain garden is at the heart of the design for this backyard.  Rainwater on site is gathered from rain gutters and released through an intricate series of stone runnels and scuppers, ultimately being released into a formalized sedge garden. 

Sketch - Stormwater Scupper and Stone Runnel

Serving as an effective way to manage stormwater, the rain garden provides visual interest while also tying the various materials and areas of the garden together.   Other areas of the garden include a tea house (formally a shed), a private patio, IPE wood, tiered deck and an entertaining patio.

In collaboration with Pistils Landscape Design, the first phase of installation has just been completed. 

Lawn At Deck Steps

Meeting of Materials - Deck/Concrete Steps at Lawn

First Phase Of Construction

Current Projects: The Shift House

The Shift House demonstrates a radical departure from the way we approach energy efficiency and sustainability in new home construction.

Through the innovative use of materials and intimate understanding of site conditions, the architects at Root Design Build are striving to build one of the only true passive houses in the United States.
In approaching the landscape design for the Shift House, Stemmler Design also looks to demonstrate a "shift" from the status quo - departing from the template of typical suburban development to reveal a landscape that blurs the boundary between domestic life and the natural surroundings. In doing so, the landscape unveils the beauty and intrinsic value of local ecology within the context of our every day lives.

Situated atop the Columbia River Basin, the site is considered part of the Oak/Conifer Eastern Cascades Columbia Foothills ecoregion - an ecoregion defined by its tremendous diversity and broad mosaic of vegetation types.

Stemmler Design looked to the meadows of this particular ecoregion as the major unifying design theme for the entire site. Working with native plant specialists at Milestone Nursery, such plant species as Penstemon Richardsonii, Coreopsis atkinsoniana, Koeleria cristata compose a meadow that is woven throughout the site. Nuances in this meadow change in response to microclimate considerations and demands.

Together with recycled, eco-friendly materials, the landscape provides all the opportunities associated with typical domestic life (barbeques, get-togethers, gardening, miscellaneous outdoor activities) while also providing important ecological function, including habitat for a spectrum of birds, butterflies, and various other local flora and fauna.

Check out the Shift House in the October '09 issue of Dwell Magazine.

Current Projects: The Cocktail Party Courtyard

Gin Martini Please - Extra Dirty

Stemmler Design set out to design a front yard that would compliment the client's recently renovated, modern duplex. The client, a Portland entrepreneur and budding developer, had one main programmatic request: the landscape should accommodate all the necessities associated with an outdoor cocktail party.


The space needed to be flexible; accommodating the everyday uses associated with a front yard while also being able to transform into the occasional space for parties and informal get-togethers.

A open lawn area was proposed to accommodate various tables and chair configurations while a series of large steps create a sense of entry. Walls and complimentary plantings on two sides of the lawn create a courtyard feel while the west wall seconds as a seating area - a perfect place to perch and set down a martini (or two).

To assist in the transition from the landscape to the architecture, stone pavers set in the lawn were used in combination with an Ipe wood deck. The Ipe deck wraps the south and east portions of the duplex, "softening" the building while framing the south and west entries of the duplex.



With any luck the construction of this landscape will occur in time for summer and the parties that are sure to come.

Current Projects: Goodbuild Storefront

Corn+Bamboo+Bioswale+Pedestrian Way = The GoodBuild Storefront

GoodBuild on Martin Luther King prides itself on selling innovative, sustainable base materials for the home. From bamboo flooring to countertops and tiles made from corn and bamboo based products. The storefront is situated at the corner of MLK and Tillamook - a busy intersection for both bicycles and pedestrians. Currently, the storefront is encased entirely by impermeable blacktop asphalt - utilized as an expansive parking lot and shortcut for bicyclists on their way to the nearby crosswalk.

Stemmler Design saw great opportunity in the expansive asphalt surrounding the store. In working with the client, we explored how the landscape could serve an ecological function, capturing and filtering water through a vegetated bioswale, while better accommodating pedestrian and bicycle traffic.



At the same time, we proposed using materials in the landscape that mirrored what was being sold in the storefront - bold plantings of corn and bamboo serve as eye-catching devices, providing a dynamic and engaging way in which to advertise Goodbuild and its line of sustainable products.



The design is still in the conceptual phase. With further study we look to demonstrate how the application of sustainable-based design can solve programmatic issues and serve important ecological functions; all the while being leveraged as an innovative advertising and marketing tool for the small business. Stay tuned...