Urban Collection planters at the IMT Sherman Village Apartments
IMT Residential is a leading nationwide apartment operator with a portfolio that extends throughout California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida. Their most recent project is located at 12729 Riverside Dr. in Valley Village, CA, well located between Studio City, Toluca Lake and Sherman Oaks. We were pleased to provide the containers and irrigation for the job.
The first U.S. cast Northlakes benches
We’ve been working with Street and Garden Furniture of Australia for a while now, but this is the first bench and table set (other than the TWIG bench) that we’ve made completely in the U.S. Previously we’ve been importing Australian cast aluminum bench ends. This one was cast here locally, using an Australian piece as a pattern.
All our wood benches feature Boulevard thermally-treated hardwoods. The hardwoods are FSC domestically-sourced, then treated in a high-temperature kiln (toasted, as it were) to create the beautiful, durable product you see here. It is comparable in hardness and durability to South American hardwoods, but doesn’t carry the baggage! The furnishings shown here are treated poplar, but we also use white oak and ash.
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Things have gotten busy here at Tournesol Siteworks – busier than we’ve been used to for quite a while. The activity in the multi-family construction business, not to mention the acquisition of the assets of Vespro, has us looking for people to join our team!
We’re a close-knit group that takes care of our own, and those people who fit well tend to stay with us for a long time. If you relish the chance to make a difference in a business that is rapidly growing, take the time to review our job postings. We’re a dynamic organization, so you should be the kind of person that doesn’t mind constant change. We anticipate posting several more opportunities in the near future, so keep checking back!
Root Solutions barrier installed at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco
Seriously! We’ve acquired the assets of Vespro Inc. of Northern California, the manufacturer of Root Solutions root barrier. While many of our products are decorative (pots, planters, site furnishings), quite a few are more functional (container irrigation, planter liners, living wall systems). The root barrier product fits perfectly into the functional part of our line – a locally-manufactured product sold primarily to landscape contractors, by our existing distributors, and specified by our design partners.
VGM Living Wall at Fashion Valley Mall, 8 months after installation
If you read our blog occasionally, you know that we like to go back and look at projects once they are installed. We believe that a project is more than just the pretty picture taken immediately after install. Even when things go wrong (and they do, occasionally), we pride in making sure that we take care of the problems.
We’ve had our “new” website up for about the past year. One of the biggest benefits, both for our customers and for us, has been the self-serve access to our complete product information. In addition to guide specifications, product details sheets, and field manuals, we’ve uploaded our entire library of customer drawings and models. Up to this point, we offered Sketchup models (.skp), Autocad 2-D drawings (.dwg), and PDF (.pdf) drawings. The Sydney Bench shown above is a pretty typical offering of our Sketchup capabilities.
If you subscribe to either Architectural Products or Landscape Architecture magazine, you’ll see a new marketing campaign starting in the March/April issues. We’re calling it “You create the space. We’ll supply the tools” (for obvious reasons!). Continue reading
Flower Framer windowboxes at Elephant & Castle restaurant
It feels like an era is over at Tournesol Siteworks. We signed the paperwork on a deal with Viapul Corporation of Oakwood Village, OH (near Cleveland), selling them the assets of the Flower Framer product line. We purchased the product line in 2004 from the original owner and founder. The addition of windowboxes back then helped us grow rapidly through the mid-2000′s. As we’ve grown, however, our product line has continued to evolve toward commercial landscape products, and away from residential/retail. The windowbox product just doesn’t fit well in our sales channel anymore. Continue reading
Courtyard planters at the Trellis Terrace condominiums, San Diego
The Trellis is a condominium building in the Gaslamp District in Downtown San Diego. At the corner of 5th and K Streets, it’s convenient to Petco Ballpark, as well as the eating and shopping downtown (and next to the Hard Rock Hotel). We were pleased when Architectural Landscapes (led by Renae Wenzig) specified our lightweight pots, 3D trellis, and container irrigation systems for the upgraded terraces there. It shows how well the products across our various lines integrate together. Continue reading
The living wall at the Singapore Institute of Technology & Education – images courtesy of Victor Tan, Elmich
I’m in Singapore right now, visiting with our partners at Elmich. Each time I visit here I’m struck by the amazing investments the country continues to pile into their infrastructure. The local joke: What’s the state bird of Singapore? A: The crane! Construction is everywhere, and it is a robust mix of public and private. It isn’t just putting up buildings, either – the investment extends to landscape, parks, and public transportation. I made a brief visit yesterday to Gardens by the Bay, which if you follow architecture or landscape architecture, you probably have heard of. It’s an amazing botanical adventure, adjoining the architectural masterpiece that is the Marina Barrage I wrote about here. Continue reading
