This isn’t her business’ first physical manifestation but it’s the most comprehensive by far—with more than 1,800 square feet of retail and workshop space, with additional room for events. Brook Klausing, of Brook Landscape, contributed the in-ground stone water installation. The rest of the space affords Patterson and her team the room to manage multiple projects, and customers, at once…

After several years operating out of the Canal Street Market, Fox Fodder Farm has returned to its roots.

The floral design studio has opened permanent Brooklyn headquarters in South Williamsburg, not far from where founder Taylor Patterson first pivoted to floral design in 2011. Before popping up on Canal Street, the team had operated out of spaces in Bushwick and Greenpoint in Brooklyn….

Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. Each week, we’re sharing things we’re eating, wearing, listening to or coveting now.

A Flower Shop Where the Customers Tidy Up

Taylor Patterson, the founder of the Brooklyn-based floral design studio Fox Fodder Farm, first started to think about a retail experience in 2017: “I wanted a space for people to breathe,” she told me. Come Friday, Patterson — whose wild arrangements are often found in the boutiques of the designers Ulla Johnson and Carolina Herrera — will open a full-fledged shop in a quiet section of South Williamsburg. Patterson worked with the landscape artist Brook Klausing on bringing the outdoors in, installing concrete flooring, brushed plaster walls, timber shelves and a bluestone fountain inspired by a Delaware creek near her hometown. While bonsais and premade bouquets are available, shoppers can make their own arrangements in hourlong sessions from a variety of blooms like poppies and flowering quince branches; for vases, they can choose from natural-toned ceramics by the Seoul-born artist Yoon-Young Hur or vessels from the Massachusetts-based one-man brand Pete’s Rocks, made with stones sourced from the North Atlantic coast. There’s also a broom for customers to sweep up their mess — as Patterson said, “It’s a work space, and things are going to get dirty.” 45 South Fourth Street, Brooklyn, foxfodderfarm.com.

Fernando Mastrangelo Studio (FMS), Brooklyn-based contemporary artist and designer, is pleased to announce his latest installation TINY HOUSE, which was open to the public display in Times Square from May 10-22nd – during NYCxDesign, New York City’s annual celebration of Design.

Bringing life to our project, Brook Landscape designed and built the courtyard garden as the final space before exiting the House, inviting New Yorkers to a moment of peace and tranquility before re-entering Times Square. Their vegetation surrounding the house roots the project as a true oasis in the middle of the city.

Brooklyn-based artist Fernando Mastrangelo has combined his passion for art and sustainability into one gorgeously green tiny home. The artist, who is known for using unique materials in his work, has just unveiled Tiny Home, a “recycled tiny house sculpture” made out of recycled plastic and glass. The 175-square foot home, which comes complete with a garden-filled courtyard, is currently open to the public as part of the annual Design Pavilion event taking place in New York’s Times Square.

The unique tiny home is made out of a variety of reclaimed materials. The ombre effect on the exterior, which gives off the illusion of a mountain range, was made out of recycled plastic. On the interior, reclaimed glass fragments were used on the walls and ceiling using the artist’s signature cement casting technique. Further into the space, a blue wall with large circular cutout leads to a soothing courtyard with a lush garden (designed by Brook Landscape) that wraps around the exterior, highlighting the strong connection between architecture and mother nature.

In the dead center of Manhattan, at the point where Broadway and 45th Street converge, a peculiar sight looks slightly out-of-place. House-like in appearance, the structure is attracting the neighborhood’s sea of inquisitive onlookers like magnets. The pattern on its facade seems to depict a horizon of distant mountainscapes on an overcast day. Fernando Mastrangelo, dressed in head-to-toe black, stands well-postured in front, creating a scene not unlike German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich’s seminal Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. The visitors meander down a lushly landscaped entrance path, suddenly immersed in the mystical grandeur of nature within one of the world’s most chaotic places: Times Square. At the house’s rear door, people emerge in almost childlike wonder. But the trance doesn’t last too long. The selfie snapping soon resumes.

The curious pop-up is called Tiny House, the latest project by Fernando Mastrangelo. During this year’s NYCxDesign, the Brooklyn furniture designer is thinking outside the trade show booth in favor of a more unorthodox approach to share his studio’s work. It’s an intrepid move—Mastrangelo is a seasoned veteran of Collective Design and Sight Unseen Offsite, both of which attracted serious foot traffic in years past but are currently on hiatus. In Mastrangelo’s eyes, the design fair’s days are numbered. The next generation of buyers “is not interested in walking through a booth-filled convention center where they don’t feel connected to the experience,” he tells me over whiskey at Grand Republic Cocktail Club, one of his favorite hangouts in Greenpoint. “They want to travel to see and interact and participate in the things they love.” Hard to argue with his sentiment given Tiny House’s stream of spellbound visitors.

Fernando Mastrangelo Studio and Brook Landscape collaborated on a tiny house that combines unusual materials, lush landscaping, and an eco-friendly message to visitors.

Inside the TINY HOUSE at Times Square Design Pavilion, the din of New York City’s brightest and loudest intersection fades to a dull roar. Outside, the house is a simple box. Four walls and a pitched roof stand atop a gently sloping hill planted with lavender, willow trees, birches, and a dwarf white pine. A wood-planked path leads you off the sidewalk, up the hill, and into the house, which features gray-to-black ombré walls that recall a panorama of rolling hills.

But the green aspects of the project, a collaboration between Fernando Mastrangelo Studio (FM/S) and Brook Landscape, don’t end with the plantings. The tiny home’s walls are cast with recycled plastic through a process perfected by FM/S. And inside, the space features recycled plastic that’s been dyed electric blue and cast into a foamy, undulating texture. A circular door in the rear frames a courtyard planted like a tropical garden. There, walls are made of black sand with a texture that evokes volcanic rock or cave walls. Tropical plantings from Brook Klausing, the CEO and creative director of Brooklyn–based Brook Landscape, provide splashes of vivid green and pink. The result is both tranquil and otherworldly.

Curating a peaceful and surreal experience was important, but only a means to a nobler end. “We wanted to use this moment to have people engage with the ideas and concepts of sustainability through a fun and fantastical experience,” says Mastrangelo. At his sprawling studio in East New York, the designer produces sculpture, furniture, and other design objects by casting crushed recycled materials such as glass, sand, and plastic. Climate change has been a theme of his work for years, as many of his designs aim to evoke changing landscapes. The TINY HOUSE project was an opportunity to take a symbol of sustainability—the low-consumption tiny house—and turn it into an attention-grabbing work of art.

Admittedly, for any designer or architect who is concerned about the environment, there is a tension between resource conservation and production. By scaling down and prioritizing recycled materials, Mastrangelo and Klausing are trying to navigate that contradiction. “Even as a landscaper,” Klausing says, “the very best we can do is to try to do something that will last and that will not over-consume.” For the TINY HOUSE, at least, all of the plantings are destined for future Brook Landscape projects. FM/S’s castings can be ground up and cast as something completely new.

There’s a double-edged quality to creating such a eye-catching design in the midst of Times Square’s flashy consumerism. Popular culture’s obsession with the new, and disregard for the waste that results, is taking its toll on the natural world, says Klausing. Still, the opportunity to bring a dose of art and greenery to a space defined by its artificiality and consumption was worth it. “Times Square is iconic, a design fair in New York is iconic in a pretentious way, this is iconic in a public way.”

6. Tiny House in Times Square

New York design-build studio Brook Landscape has teamed up with Fernando Mastrangelo Studio (FM/S) and a number of technology experts to create a “full-scale, interactive and sensory immersive” sculpture in Times Square. Titled Tiny House, the space combines reclaimed materials and lush botanicals–including pink flowering dogwood, Hakuro Nishiki willow, and aromatic lavender and juniper—to create a serene space, complete with inspiring videos and healing soundscapes, set against the cacophony of one of the city’s busiest neighborhoods. Through May 22

With climate change becoming an increasing issue, Fernando Mastrangelo’s diligence in addressing it merits public acclaim. In his work, the artist has been exposing this issue for the last five years, and now has decided to expand conversations of environmental sustainability in architecture, and the way it affects private and public spaces.

With his new interactive and sensory immersive Tiny House sculpture inspired by the current sustainability movement, Mastrangelo is “reimagining the way we build and propelling viewers into the future of architecture.” The collaborative Brook Landscape installation is part of Times Square Design Lab — a design initiative set to bring in ideas for public space in celebration of NYCxDESIGN. When offered an installation space where 45th Street and Broadway intersect, Mastrangelo didn’t hesitate to bring his art, quite literally, to the public.

Brooklyn-based concrete artist Fernando Mastrangelo is no stranger to casting delicately colored, intricately-layered furniture and panels in experimental materials. During the 2019 New York Design Week, Fernando Mastrangelo Studio (FM/S) has cast TINY HOUSE, and will exhibit the micro-space in Times Square until May 22.

The 175-square-foot structure was designed with sustainability in mind. The exterior walls, which transition from black at the base to a delicate gray at the gabled tip, were cast from recycled plastic.

Once past the narrow threshold, the “house” is delineated into three zones—the first is austere and made from cast-off scrap glass. A blue space (the Terra Room) with cladding the texture of volcanic rock and matching shag carpet follows. Past that, visitors can climb through an oculus to a semi-enclosed courtyard garden for a moment of quiet reflection before leaving the house—though in practice, it was being used as a selfie location when AN toured the installation.

TINY HOUSE was optimized to integrate a multitude of fine touches to create an oasis-like feel. The landscaping from Brook Landscape, which also designed the courtyard garden, was curated to frame views of the city while also holding the surrounding chaos of Times Square at bay.

The 176-square-foot home by Fernando Mastrangelo, built entirely from reclaimed materials, warns against climate change.

Fernando Mastrangelo, the Brooklyn–based artist and sculptor known for his use of controversial and surprising materials—including cocaine, cremated ashes, and corn—has fashioned a tiny house out of sand and recycled materials.

An oasis in the city: providing a moment of peace and tranquility in Times Square, Brook Landscape and Mastrangelo devised a courtyard garden that extends beyond the building.

Brooklyn-based artist and designer fernando mastrangelo is not one to shy away from unusual materials, working with salt, sand, and powdered glass. in an expansion of his experimental interiors initiative ‘the space program’, mastrangelo is exploring the future of living with the design of a recycled tiny house sculpture planted in middle of new york’s times square. open to the public and on view from now through may 22, 2019 as part of NYCxDESIGN, ‘TINY HOUSE’ is an immersive, interactive, and sensory space that shows how architecture can help continue the lifecycle of discarded materials.

Deeply inspired by nature and issues surrounding climate change, ‘TINY HOUSE’ is made from reclaimed materials — like recycled glass and plastic — within a minimized 175-sqft footprint. ‘as spaces begin to be experienced more and more virtually, the boundaries of our imaginations — as architects and designers — are no longer limited to what we can physically build,’ mastrangelo explains. ‘that’s where tiny house comes in; a space where the future of design can be experienced in real life.’ Recycled plastic has been cast to create an ombre effect on the dwelling’s façade, while scrapped glass fragments have been transformed into cavernous walls. upon entry, visitors are welcomed into a cavernous, mausoleum-like space made from fernando’s signature cement casting technique.

To create an important moment of peace and tranquillity before re-entering bustling times square, mastrangelo collaborated with new york-based design build studio, Brook Landscape. in the final interior area, before exiting the house, the team devised a calming courtyard garden, lushly landscaped with botanical life. once outside, vegetation surrounding the house further roots the project as an oasis in the middle of the city.

Mastrangelo also worked closely with both anne-laure pingreoun at alter-projects and steve lastro of 6Sides on finding the technology and experience collaborators to create a unique immersive installation. together, they selected delos for its ‘DARWIN’ technology — a home wellness intelligence program that intuitively responds to home conditions by purifying its air, water, and emitting rhythmic sound and light.

The back of the brownstone was free of the landmark restrictions that applied to the front façade. Abruzzo and Bodziak used a custom-designed steel staircase off the kitchen terrace to lead to the garden. Happily, the neighboring building has a windowless brick wall to further privacy. Photo: Naho Kubota for Abruzzo Bodziak Architects

“The backyard Japanese-style garden was a four-way collaboration between landscape architect Marc Keane, Abruzzo Bodziak, Brook Landscape, and the clients,” Abruzzo says. Devon Turnbull, one of the founding members of the fashion collaboration Nom de Guerre, spent lots of time in Japan during his years working on the label. “I had an office in Tokyo and considered it my second home,” he says. Today he is designing custom speakers. Photo: Naho Kubota for Abruzzo Bodziak Architects

He’s a CEO from Kentucky (his design-build firm, Brook Landscape, specializes in sustainable outdoor environments) and she’s a Dutch-Dominican model and jewelry-maker (who recently launched her namesake brand), but Brook Klausing and Soleil Hulscher’s cozy life speaks to their shared aesthetic vision. While their days are more than full—an average week may find him juggling client meetings and brainstorming concepts and her jetting off to Paris or Lisbon for photo shoots—the indie entrepreneurs, pictured above in BOSS, take comfort in reuniting in their airy Brooklyn loft. The casually sophisticated space (reclaimed pine floors, pink sofa, and tons of natural light) echoes their laid-back style—it’s chic, without a hint of contrivance. Klausing credits his Southern upbringing for instilling in him a love of classic design—with a rebel’s spike. “Growing up, we were all little troublemakers, but we were buttoned up,” he says. “That kind of followed me, that you can’t look sloppy, but you don’t want to be overly strict.” Adds Hulscher, “I think we both appreciate quality, easy-to-wear pieces that travel well.” In fact, it was wanderlust that brought them together: He was on his way to Greece for holiday, she on her way to London for a modeling job, when he chatted her up at the airport newsstand. A month later, they met up for their first date—dinner and a concert—back in Williamsburg.

Both Klausing and Hulscher recognize that being a boss requires not only hard work but, sometimes, a change of uniform, too. “Personally, I dress differently depending on the meeting,” says Klausing. “I’ll wear a blazer to see a high-end client but pair it with something informal so they know I’m not uptight.” As for Hulscher, she slips in and out of various personas with ease in front of the camera, but off-duty, she’s loyal to refined staples: high-waisted pants, fine knits, and menswear-inspired jackets. Here, the couple wears looks from the BOSSFall/Winter collection, perfect for serious business—and serious play.

Wide, quiet street; south-facing garden; just enough period detail to give it character: Each element featured prominently on designer and collector Olivia Song’s townhouse-search checklist, but the towering cluster of old London plane trees posed a challenge for her team of architects. So in came a cantilevered kitchen that wouldn’t disturb the root base of one of the nearby trees — an effort to protect the six-story giants and some of the disparate plantings thriving outside. “We have different species of dogwood, Japanese maples, and winterberry — all of which don’t really go together if you were to create a new garden,” Song says. “But to me they were like living, ongoing creatures.” Ultimately, one of the three plane trees had to go because it was leaning too close to the house, but the backyard, with its elegantly lush feel, has remained very much the centerpiece of the home.

Inside, meanwhile, Song and her husband, financier Scott Rofey, wanted a place where everyone, including their two small boys and the occasional visiting in-laws, could come together but then spread out into separate areas when downtime was needed.

Song had spent enough time in friends’ Brooklyn homes to know she didn’t want the classic seven-and-a-half-foot garden-level ceiling height. “I wanted this big lofty space — basically the antithesis of a townhouse,” she says. “That’s where we came up with the idea of the cutout.” Song worked closely with Greg Heasley and Shawn Watts of Leroy Street Studio, whose design/build practice kept the charm of the parlor’s original staircase while removing part of the floor to create a double-height garden-level family room.

But at the end of the day, it was Rofey who drove the kitchen design in terms of color and how much space he needed. “He loves to cook,” Song says. “We don’t go out that much, because what he cooks is better than anything at a restaurant. He even makes bagels, with the sesame topping, the whole thing.”

Brook Landscape cleared the overgrowth and left as much of the original planting as made sense for the garden plan. The two giant London plane trees are lavished with love, and planted moss and grasses flank a stone path leading to the alfresco dining area, which features a table from Restoration Hardware and chairs from Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec from HAY. Brook Landscape laid down Granite Belgian Block for the hardscape around the dining area. Photo: Annie Schlechter

With the collaboration of Leroy Street Studio and Brook Landscape, Olivia Song has created an oasis for her husband and two young boys in the renovation of their 1840 townhouse in Cobble Hill, with a climbing wall, moon light fixtures, and a two-story bookshelf.

Her objectives were simple: save the giant London Plane trees in the garden and create a loft-like feeling while preserving the integrity of historic details that juxtaposed the architectural interventions.

In this episode of Interior Lives with our design editor, Wendy Goodman, see how Olivia’s work and design eye has yielded a dramatic house that is family friendly through and through.

Outdoor rugs, like outdoor fabrics, have come a long way in recent years, and many now have the look and feel of those once reserved for indoor use. That’s good news for anyone who has a terrace or a deck — or any other outdoor space in need of sprucing up for the summer.

“You can use them to create different zones,” said Brook Klausing, a partner in the Brooklyn company Brook Landscape, explaining that a rug can anchor a furnished lounge area as part of a larger design scheme. Then there are the practical advantages. “Sometimes decks and stone patios get really hot,” Mr. Klausing said, and having rugs underfoot can keep you from feeling like you’re walking on a bed of burning coals. Maybe even more important, though, a rug is the quickest fix for ugly or outdated pavers or decking. “A rug won’t last forever,” Mr. Klausing said. “But it’s the cheapest way to cover a surface.”

When should outdoor rugs be stored inside? Most are designed to be left out all summer, Mr. Klausing said, “but I wouldn’t leave it out in the winter.”

Are they hard to clean? No: Most outdoor rugs are designed to be hosed down and scrubbed.

What colors are best for hiding dirt? “It’s about the usage,” Mr. Klausing said. “If you’re in the city, avoid really bright colors.” Darker colors or multicolored patterns are a safer bet.

BROOK KLAUSING AND JESSE SEEGERS CREATE A HIDDEN OASIS FOR COLLECTIVE DESIGN

Part futuristic bubble, part garden, the installation “Oasis” is one of the centerpieces at this weekend’s Collective Design Fair in New York. A collaboration between landscape designer Brook Klausing and artist Jesse Seegers, the project invites visitors to question their sensory experiences while walking through an ethereal dreamland space.

“Oasis” consists of three tapered inflated tubes ranging in height from six to thirteen feet—altering the experience and comfort levels of guests—and organized in a triangle formation. “We’re imagining a harsher, less hospitable exterior and, as you move through the protected landscape, you move into something more comfortable and more human,” says Klausing. The three tubes reflect Seegers’s ongoing work with temporary inflatable spaces, typically translucent, as in “Oasis,” or transparent to offer a feeling of both protection and entrapment. The pair developed a spatial sequence for the installation, starting with a small door opening onto a huge space inflated by continuously running fans before squeezing through a threshold to a medium-sized inflatable allowing for a decompression at the end. The last chamber leads to a lush courtyard, complete with artificial pond and duck, surrounded by the inflatable pieces.

Klausing is a veteran of Collective Design, having participated last year with his firm Brook Landscape, which he runs with Brian Green. The team outfitted the entry hall with their stunning and thoughtful landscape work as well as pieces from their collection of furniture. This year, in their partnership with Seegers, the imagined environment took on a much more playful tone. “It’s nice to play with someone else and go high concept,” Klausing notes. “We are able to create a narrative and tell a different story, taking what we do to the next level.”

Seegers jumps in, “Likewise for me, it was fun to do a charrette with Brooks and his crew. I come from a more academic background, just recently leaving the architecture school at Columbia to do more projects like this. There isn’t intellectual baggage, it’s a fun spatial experience with a narrative. In the context of the fair that’s made up of lots of amazing work, [we wanted] to do something that provides a sort of foil for the booths.”

Brook Landscape and Jesse Seegers have collaborated on an oasis-like desert landscape populated by inhabitable inflatable spaces. Furnished by Natural Workshop, the installation calls into question our fraught relationships with natural materials and environments.

Jesse Seegers and Brook Landscape
Designer Jesse Seegers and design-build studio Brook Landscape collaborated to create this “oasis” for Collective Design. The installation features inflatable polyethylene barriers that protect a miniature verdant sanctuary, replete with sand, plants, chairs (from Natural Workshop), and a boardwalk. The oasis is meant to be a “mental palette cleanser from the visual stimulation of the fair,” says Seegers, who specializes in inflatable architecture

Jesse Seegers and Brook Landscape
The garden does provide shelter for the senses: the hum of the inflatable’s fan provides soothing white noise, while incense floats through the air. Eagle-eyed visitors will spot several stuffed birds throughout the installation.

Jesse Seegers and Brook Landscape
“Fun is the key word,” says Brook Landscape’s Brook Klausing.

For true isolation, visitors can enter the inflatables themselves. Inside the quiet space, the primary stimulus is the ambient illumination filtering through the plastic. In Seegers’ words, "It forces you to appreciate the light.”

Coming upon a secret garden at the end of our tour was a surprising finale. Brook Landscape has created a wonderland including a small pond of mirror, perfect for any design Narcissus to contemplate the beautiful designs they've seen.

And make sure to walk through the inflatable desert by Brook Landscape and Jesse Seegers (an excellent Instagram opportunity lies at the back). Collective Design will be on view through Sunday, March 11. Below, the top 10 pieces that caught our eye.

Brook Landscape and Jesse Seegers collaborate on an oasis desert landscape populated by an ethereal environment of inhabitable inflatable spaces. Creating an air of mystery followed by passage through a dream-like space of ineffable tranquility, attendees are invited to question assumptions about comfort, familiarity with human constructions, and the inevitable collision with all things natural. Furnishings by Natural Workshop provide moments of respite and an opportunity to reflect on environmental fragility and our relationship to natural materials and landscapes.
 

Photo Credit: Tyler Abell

Most renters, especially if they’re not planning a long stay, prefer not to spend too much time or money fixing up someone else’s property. But what if they still want a nice outdoor space? We asked Brooklyn-based garden designer Brook Klausing for recommendations for finessing a space that you don’t own. Not only has he done it for clients of his company, Brook Landscape, he also has plenty of personal experience, having fixed up several rental gardens for himself.

To start, Brook suggests, figure out what your goal is and how much time you’re willing to commit. Maybe you only have a year’s lease, and just want a weekend project. Or maybe you plan to be there a few years, and you’d love to spend the summer playing in the garden because you enjoy the process. Either way, don’t get overly enthusiastic and embark on something you won’t finish. Assess your own ambition and organize a project that’s right for you.

His other directive: Go big. “Don’t get distracted at the nursery and pick up a lot of random small things just because they’re cute,” he advises. Better to start with strong moves to organize the space.

Read on for 10 more rental garden tips from Brook:

Photography courtesy of Brook Klausing except where noted.

Above: Take note of what’s great about the space and find a way to accentuate it. With judicious editing, Brook created focal points in a backyard garden.

“If there’s a great view or a tree you’re really into (even if it’s in your neighbor’s yard), clear out any weeds or shrubs that are in the way and position your seating and enhancements to maximize the sight lines.” By the same token, identify what you don’t love in the space and remove or, if that’s not possible, downplay the distraction. (See below for suggestions on dealing with ugly walls and fences.)

Above: A smoke bush (at L) is a visual focal point in a backyard garden designed by Brook Landscapes.

If the existing garden is full of messy, overgrown trees and shrubs, pruning is the fastest and cheapest way to rehabilitate and define the space and give yourself room to move around. “All it takes is a pair of clippers, and maybe a saw if you’re feeling more ambitious,” says Brook.

Above: Brook created a cohesive look with a backyard patio of stone pavers “grouted” with pebbles.

Consider covering an unsightly concrete patio with a thin layer of pea gravel. Or, if there’s just dirt or a patchy lawn, lay some inexpensive concrete pavers to create an affordable patio. (You’ll first need to dig down about two inches, to make the pavers flush with the rest of the yard.) If you’re up for some heavy lifting, it’s easy to lay a flagstone patio, which doesn’t require perfection. Alternatively, dress up a concrete patio or roof terrace with artificial turf or an outdoor rug. (You don’t want pavers on a roof, because of the weight—and hard edges that could damage the membrane.)

Above: Brook created a serene backdrop by painting surrounding walls a dark, unifying color.

Painting is an easy way to rehabilitate an old fence or a shabby wall. “We once used black paint to transform a courtyard where multicolored walls were creating a very distracting backdrop to the garden,” Brook says.

Above: For a Soho fire escape garden, Brook created a sense of seclusion in the middle of the city by planting fast-growing vines.

Another way to hide an ugly or boring surface is by planting fast-growing vines such as hyacinth bean, wisteria, or even morning glory. Attach strings for them to climb. Or consider rolled bamboo or reed fencing, available at most hardware and garden shops. “It’s easily attached to any existing surface using zip ties,” says Brook, “and it makes an instant privacy screen.”

Above: Mix-and-match planters create layers of interest against a bamboo fence on a Soho fire escape.

No need to waste time and money testing the soil (and probably having to ameliorate it). Just buy some attractive pots and planters that you can take with you when you move. (For large planters, the ones made of lightweight fiberglass will be easier to transport than terra cotta.) Feel free to mix sizes and styles and group them together, filled with colorful annuals or, if it’s a sunny space, herbs and vegetables. You can buy small thyme, sage, and rosemary plants in the spring and watch them grow all season. “A small tree, such as a potted cutleaf Japanese maple, is a great decorative element in any space,” Brook suggests.

Above: Hostas and hellebores, planted in clumps in a backyard designed by Brook.

If your garden already has some well-established plants such as hosta, iris, liriope, or decorative grasses, you can save yourself some money and a trip to the nursery. Just cut the plants in half and transplant them in empty areas of the garden. Remember that things look best when they’re massed together.

Above: Designer Brook Klausing in a Brooklyn backyard. See more of this garden in our Gardenista book. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Gardenista.

Create a border in a small sunny area such as a terrace or balcony by planting some tall, fact-growing ornamental grasses in a row of rectangular boxes. Karl Foerster, which grows to about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide, is a good choice for a skinny border; Miscanthus (maiden grass) is another option.

If you have a larger open area that’s surrounded by a chain link fence, consider planting large grasses along the fence to soften the perimeter. Pampas grass (Cortaderia Selloana) is a high-impact, low-dollar solution; a single plant can cover an area the size of a doorway in a couple of years.

Above: Fermob folding chairs are as useful indoors as out; in winter, take them indoor and use them as extra seating. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Gardenista.

You probably don’t know where you’ll end up next, so resist buying heavy, clunky pieces that will be hard to move and may not fit in your future garden. Better to invest in smaller furnishings, such as folding tables and collapsible chairs, that will pack up easily and are more likely to suit any space you might land in.

Above: For more of this garden, see Before & After: A $5,000 Garden Makeover in St. Augustine. Photograph by Kelsey Heinze courtesy of Yield Design.

Urban gardens tend to be heavily shaded, and can benefit from extra illumination. But in any garden, string lights add a festive air after dark, and make the space feel more like an outdoor room. When you’re ready to move on, you can just pull them down, throw them in a box, and … be prepared to find them hopelessly tangled up when you go to use them again.

Low-maintenance and user-friendly, this 20-foot-wide backyard garden, built and planted by Crown Heights-based Brook Landscape, proves that garden design needn’t be complex to be successful. “You don’t need a ton of ingredients to make a good meal,” points out Brook Klausing, who founded the design/build company in 2007 with Brian Green, an architect and fellow Kentuckian.

There wasn’t much to work with when they arrived on the scene — just “weeds and dirt,” Klausing said. An existing plate-glass picture window and minimal steel stair by Brooklyn-based architects vonDALWIG, who oversaw earlier interior renovations, suggested the garden’s modernist style.

The Brook Landscape team began by pruning back some of the neighbors’ overhanging trees and excavating soil near the house for a below-grade patio. They built a raised deck made of ipé, a Brazilian hardwood highly rated for weather resistance, and surrounded the yard with horizontally slatted cedar fencing.

The plant palette is limited for simplicity of design and ease of care. There are classic rows of hornbeams on three sides of the yard; topiary boxwood balls in front and back; shade-loving, early-blooming hellebores around the garden’s perimeter; and a pink-blooming kousa dogwood, under-planted with rosemary, in a raised central bed.

A hidden soaker system takes care of irrigation.

Klausing sees a lot of urban gardens so heavily planted that there’s “just one pathway and a little seating area,” with hardly any space left over for family use or entertaining. “We’re always striving for the right balance between usable space and horticulture,” he said. “I love this garden because it’s open and spacious, with nicely partitioned rooms for different functions. But we still allowed for diverse, layered plantings and let the garden be a garden.”

Boxwood balls soften the rear foundation and underline the wide picture window that overlooks the garden.

Mondo grass in front of the boxwood requires no mowing. A fig tree in a pot has its own illumination.

The richly veined marble pavers, set in gravel for easy drainage, were imported from Turkey  “We thought it would be fun to do something textured,” Klausing said. “It’s really vibrant when it rains.”

As evening falls, uplights around the garden’s perimeter impart a glow to the limbed-up trunks of the hornbeams.

The curvy Loop chairs, made of lightweight cement, are a 1954 design by Willy Guhl, still in production.

The dining table and benches are a vintage find, with classic French bistro chairs from Fermob for extra seating.

[Photos by Anna Shive]

The homeowners added new wood decking in the bilevel garden.

[Photos by James Veal]

The Roof Deck - The space - designed by Ashe + Leandro - features custom floor cushions covered in fabric from Perennials. The landscaping was done by Brook Landscape. The portable shower is by Seletti.

The wood table is from Restoration Hardware, and the chairs are vintage.

The site-specific pieces draw the most attention. At the fair’s entrance, The LAB at Rockwell Group, a New York design studio, has constructed a tinsel tunnel illuminated from below by lights that change from blue to green to red and back again, all arched over a cobalt carpet. Inside, Brook Landscape has fashioned a garden walkway lined with greenery, made with wood salvaged from Rockaway Beach in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The Noguchi Museum has collaborated with designer Robert Stadler on “Waiting Room,” a site-specific installation placing Noguchi’s famous Akari lamp above Stadler’s sofas. Stickbulb, a lighting brand, has brought Ambassador, a large standing semicircle lined with LEDs and placed on top of a mirror so that standing near it is like inhabiting a giant, lit-up hamster wheel. Nearly every corner of the fair is camera-ready—enough so that an exhibitor was overheard grumbling, “If it’s not Instagram-able, it’s no good.”

“Green Corridor” by Brook Landscape, built with salvaged wood from the Rockaway boardwalk damaged in Hurricane Sandy.

April/May 2017

Plant the Future - Featured on Page 97

With a focus on 20th- and 21st-century design; established and emerging creatives; and a synthesis of design, art and craft, both rare and affordable, Collective Design presents a range of boundary-pushing work alongside vintage collectible pieces. Last year, it made sales to New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, among others.

“We reflect the changes in our culture, which has become less defined by boundaries,” says founder Steven Learner, who produces the fair with a global council of thought leaders from the interior design, art, and architecture worlds, and is looking to foster the next generation of design enthusiasts. “Today we’ve lost the ‘design art’ title, which is messy and silos our output. This new permeable membrane is really positive. Our culture has become polygamous, and our aesthetic reflects that.”

Promoting sustainable design (the fair even recycles its display panels each year), Collective has invited Stickbulb lighting and landscape designer Brook Klausing to exhibit, and has teamed up with OTHR, an emerging 3D-printed limited-edition design label, to introduce new talent to the show.

Community input has helped the event evolve. Learner explains that the incentive to create Collective Concept last year—capsule presentations about material process—was to introduce unsung midcareer designers to the gallery system and public. Also returning will be Collective Influence, celebrating Swiss designer Mattia Bonetti.

Collective will have a new layout to increase visibility and offer more paths for exploration, while maintaining the fair’s tight curation and intimacy. “Most fairs still follow an 18th-century ‘booth and aisle’ gridded plan and focus on luxury shopping,” Learner says. “We’re not interested in luxury shopping. Collective is the antithesis of the feeding frenzy so often associated with fairs.”

The Brooklyn-based landscape architecture firm’s just-launched furniture collection brings wabi-sabi principles, understated materials, and a duo of living walls to the entrance hall.

Photography by Clemens Kois

Brook Klausing of Brook Landscape will create a site-specific green corridor that transports visitors from the fair entrance through a classical garden passageway. The subtle, enchanting installation will feature raw timbers salvaged from the Rockaway boardwalk after Hurricane Sandy. Select pieces from Natural Workshop, a new product company launching this spring from Klausing and collaborator Brian Green, will be integrated into the space. Bringing the outdoors in, the project will impart a transitional space with an air of permanence and playfulness.

Collective Design Fair
550 Washington Street, until 7 May
collectivedesignfair.com
The landscape architect Brook Klausing has designed an indoor garden as a respite from the fair. The space, built in part of timber salvaged from the Rockaway boardwalk after Hurricane Sandy, includes planters with flowering perennials and trellising ivy. “The overall feeling is stolen from the storyboard of the set designer that created Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” Klausing says, noting that he aims for simplicity that nevertheless commands attention. 

Kentucky Born Urban Designer Landscapes NYC

Originally from Lexington KY, he cut his first lawn for a neighbor at age 8. He and his brother incorporated Klausing Lawn & Landscape when they were in middle school and were installing gardens for top Landscape Architects by the time they graduated High school.   After moving to New York in early 2000, he considered it the wild west of gardening.   Inspired to bring nature to the urban setting, he founded Brook Landscape in 2007.   The companies focus, transforming undervalued exterior real estate into refined lush outdoor living spaces.  Brook Landscape has designed hundreds of gardens from celebrity’s penthouses to the Brooklyn Museum.    Currently this May, he is launching Natural Workshop, a collection of outdoor furnishings & garden objects and will participate in the Collective Design Fair.

Brook Klausing of Brook Landscape will create a site-specific green corridor that transports visitors from the fair entrance through a classical garden passageway. The subtle, enchanting installation will feature raw timbers salvaged from the Rockaway boardwalk after Hurricane Sandy. Select pieces from Natural Workshop, a new product company launching this spring from Klausing and collaborator Brian Green, will be integrated into the space. Bringing the outdoors in, the project will impart a transitional space with an air of permanence and playfulness.

“Collective Design is an intimate fair, eschewing the feeding frenzy of most fairs,” says its organizer, Steven Learner. “Most design collectors, unlike art collectors, are guided by their advisers rather than making spontaneous or emotional purchases. In the case of design objects, these advisers are architects and interior designers, our core audience.” He says that growth in New York’s high-end real estate development is boosting its “self-sustaining design ecosystem”. “The rise of a dynamic contemporary art market has fueled thinking that contemporary design, at the moment still wildly undervalued, is the next great asset class,” he adds.

May is around the corner, and with it comes the fifth edition of the Collective Design fair, occurring May 3 through May 7 as part of NYCxDESIGN. The event will be at The High Line’s former southernmost terminal, Skylight Clarkson Sq, a “horizontal skyscraper” spanning three city blocks in West SoHo. As if the venue wasn’t interesting enough, Collective Design has now announced several installations to christen the space.

Following in the footsteps of last year’s Glacial Drift by Brooklyn-based The Principals, The LAB at Rockwell Group has designed a 40-foot-long “blue carpet” that passes through a glittering tunnel as the fair’s entrance. The in-house design innovation studio found inspiration for the experience in the red carpets of Hollywood and their choreography and their promises of excitement.

“Our goal was to create an entry experience that plays with the theatrical moment of the red carpet, and also blurs digital technology with a physical structure,” said Melissa Hoffman, studio leader at The LAB, Rockwell Group’s in-house design innovation studio. “We ended up transforming the typical entry experience into a shimmering, seductive structure immersed in Collective’s signature blue color.”

The tunnel will be fabricated by Brooklyn-based The Factory NYC, built from plywood ribs cut on a CNC router. The structure will then be clad entirely in mylar foil fringe, which will give the tunnel its glamorous shimmer. The passage will also expand and contract, giving it the illusion that it is breathing and adding a touch of other-worldliness to the grand entrance.

After traipsing through the breathing blue tunnel, visitors will experience another kind of living corridor: an indoor classical garden designed by Brook Klausing of Brook Landscape. The installation will feature raw timbers from the Rockaway Boardwalk, salvaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and select pieces from Natural Workshop, a collaboration of Klausing and Brian Green, who is launching a new product line this spring.

Other installations include The Noguchi Museum’s Waiting Room: Noguchi/Stadler, an exhibition of Isamu Noguchi’s work alongside designer Robert Stadler, which mimics the strangeness of waiting spaces and “public and private forms of standing-by.” Huniford Design Studio, led by James Huniford, will be furnishing the VIP Lounge for the fair, showcasing furniture from the Huniford Collection, a luxury furniture line from the designer launching this spring.

Also making an appearance is Stickbulb, a handmade lighting brand that utilizes sustainably sourced and reclaimed wood. They will be installing a limited-edition piece made from reclaimed redwood planks salvaged during the demolition of New York City water towers.

Alongside the announcements of these exciting installations, Collective Design also announced the addition of several major partners for 2017: The Museum of Arts and Design, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Storefront for Art and Architecture, Open House New York, The Architectural League of New York, Royal Academy of Art (RCA) in London, New York School of Interior Design (NYSID), School of Visual Art (SVA), and Bard Graduate Center (BCG).

With the announcement of these installations and additions to the fair, May is shaping up to be an inspiring and exciting month for the New York City design community. You can find more information about the Collective Design fair here and more information regarding NYCxDESIGN’s many festivities here.

Featured at Collective DesignFeatured at Collective Desig

Collective Design has announced the addition of major partners for the fifth edition of the fair, to be held May 3-7, 2017 at Skylight Clarkson Square during NYCxDESIGN. The LAB at Rockwell Group, The Noguchi Museum, Huniford Design Studio, Brook Landscape, and Stickbulb have joined the fair to present immersive, site-specific installations that will reinforce the fair’s signature experiential nature. These dynamic, high-profile partners reflect Collective Design’s spirit of authenticity, craft and innovation, and their participation underlines the fair’s role as an essential platform for New York’s leading design thinkers.

For their first work at Collective Design, the LAB at Rockwell Group, the firm’s in-house design innovation studio, will create a thrilling arrival moment at the entrance to the fair. Inspired by the idea of reinventing the red carpet, the LAB has designed an undulating passageway made of CNC-milled plywood ribs clad in playful layers of shimmering reflective foil fringe. Arching over a blue carpet, Collective Design’s signature color, the interactive installation will appear to expand and contract, almost as if alive. The entry experience will foster a sense of discovery and drive excitement.

The Noguchi Museum returns to Collective Design for a second time to activate a raw industrial space previously unseen by fair visitors. In "Waiting Room: Noguchi/Stadler," the works of Isamu Noguchi and Austrian-born contemporary designer Robert Stadler will come together in a surreal, somewhat otherworldly pastiche of public and private forms of standing-by. The installation coincides with "Solid Doubts: Robert Stadler" at The Noguchi Museum, the first exhibition to pair Noguchi's work with that of a living designer. Both the exhibition, which is on view from April 26 through September 3, and the installation at Collective Design are curated by Noguchi Museum Senior Curator Dakin Hart in collaboration with Robert Stadler, and will highlight the scope of Noguchi’s vision and continuing impact on our contemporary culture. Stadler will also be the subject of a solo exhibition at Carpenters Workshop Gallery from April 27 through June 17, 2017.

Huniford Design Studio, helmed by James Huniford, will bring a refined and elegant vision to the 2017 VIP Lounge. The design will showcase furniture from the firm's latest Huniford Collection, a luxury furnishings line, and will mark the launch of the new collection this spring 2017. Huniford’s signature approach combines graceful design and optimal craftsmanship in distinctive combinations. First launched in 2013, the new Huniford Collection is restyled with upholstery in textured solids and subtle patterns, building on Huniford's penchant for pure materials, clean lines, and subtle details.

Expanding Collective Design’s longstanding enthusiasm for sustainable, ecologically connected design will be two major installations repurposing material salvaged from iconic New York City sites:

Stickbulb, a handmade lighting brand committed to using sustainably sourced wood, will debut an ambitious, limited edition art piece featuring redwood planks reclaimed from demolished New York City water towers. Designed in collaboration with RUX, the founding creative team behind Stickbulb, "Ambassador" re-adapts the richly textured wood into a giant semi-circular portal of ethereal light. The form and scale connect with the majesty of the world's largest and most ancient trees.

Brook Klausing of Brook Landscape will create a site-specific green corridor that transports visitors from the fair entrance through a classical garden passageway. The subtle, enchanting installation will feature raw timbers salvaged from the Rockaway boardwalk after Hurricane Sandy. Select pieces from Natural Workshop, a new product company launching this spring from Klausing and collaborator Brian Green, will be integrated into the space.  Bringing the outdoors in, the project will impart a transitional space with an air of permanence and playfulness.

Further amplifying and diversifying its robust audience, Collective Design has added major partners for 2017. Cultural partners include The Museum of Arts and Design, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Storefront for Art and Architecture, Open House New York, and The Architectural League. Continuing its commitment to educational partners, Collective Design welcomes London’s RCA, Royal Academy of Art; NYSID, New York School of Interior Design; SVA, School of Visual Art; and BCG, Bard Graduate Center.

Brook Landscape featured on HGTV - 6 Mosquito Repellent Plants

Rectangular planters help provide privacy to this long, wrap-around terrace in Tribecca. Designer Brook Klausing says the plants help give a sense of movement while keeping the view of the Hudson River open and unobstructed.

Brook Klausing describes this garden, at a private residence, as "classic, regal and traditional." Symmetrical boxwoods border the red brick center with bluestone caps.

You might not guess that this courtyard sits atop the roof of 10-story urban building. Klausing designed it to have an organic, "been-there" feel, using a customized stone wall and limestone. The deck is inlaid IPE, an exotic wood from South and Central America. "The plantings were kept very soft and loose to take away any sense of being strict," he says. An ornamental, salvaged architectural piece hides in the garden bed. This design is still in progress, Klausing adds; furniture is on the way.

Brooklyn-based landscape architect Brook Klausing specializes in garden design services for country estates, townhouses, brownstones and other urban, outdoor living spaces. For this recessed patio, the Kentucky native used reclaimed wood from the Coney Island boardwalk. A pendant lamp hangs from a tree over the seating are

This close-up view of the recessed patio shows how hidden lighting adds a soft glow. The lights also reveal the beautiful textures of the stacked stones.

Klausing selected bamboo for these blackened steel planters, installed on the lower level of a private residence. The fast-growing plants provide privacy, while the planters keep the aggressive roots from spreading out of control. His firm, Brook Landscape, also added the bluestone patio, boxwoods and grasses.

Klausing added custom decking to dress up this tiny fire escape in New York. Bamboo helps hide the surrounding ironwork, while small, potted plants keep the space feeling "tight and petite," he says. A leggy Japanese maple fills a corner, while Virginia creeper tumbles gracefully over the railings.

Brook Landscape designed this rooftop garden, atop the Ford Models building in New York, to mimic an "old, rich, European feeling," says Klausing. The herringbone deck, concrete planters filled with feathery grasses that move in the wind, and architectural pieces, which feature rams' heads, look as if they're original to the building. The tree in the foreground is a birch with attractive, peeling bark.

A stone wall surrounds this recessed patio, which is topped by a triangular cedar pergola. There's a wrap-around, raised planter, filled with English ivy and other greenery, behind the wall. Guests can relax on the cantilever bench while the owner fires up the outdoor smoker (under the black cover).

In this close-up view of the recessed patio, a blackened steel planter holds Pieris japonica, black mondo grass and ajuga. The plants spill over the edge of the planter, softening it, while a horizontal cedar fence creates additional visual interest.

This rooftop terrace in New York was basically a blank space, says Klausing. He installed the cedar awning, covered in wisteria, and used green planters behind the benches to blend in with the view of a nearby park. Pots scattered around the perimeter help avoid a "boxy feel," he adds. Purple catmint adds color to the scene, along with white roses, a purple smoke bush and white hydrangeas. A built-in irrigation drip system simplifies watering.

A different view of the rooftop terrace shows off irises, more hydrangeas, and spirea planted by the French doors. The garden helps ease the transition to the interior, Klausing says, who adds that the owner specifically asked for a design that didn't look "design-y." Instead, the idea was to create a garden that someone's grandmother could have planted.

Originally created for Jenna Lyons, creative director of J. Crew, this Brook Landscape design features stone walls that curve around an existing dogwood tree. Klausing's firm excavated space for a recessed deck and installed the blackened steel retention walls

For this Brooklyn condo, Brook Klausing added a white powder-coated steel pergola for a rooftop garden that stays true to the architecture of the building. Wisteria was planted to climb up the pergola; Klausing likes it because it grows fast and provides quick coverage. Inkberries are planted behind the table and chairs.

For nighttime ambience, Klausing added a glass chandelier and uplighting in a Japanese maple to this alternate view of the Brooklyn rooftop garden. An inlaid deck creates a sense of space for lounging. The furniture is by Holly Hunt.

Sculptor Robert Cannon created this abstract piece for a rooftop garden Klausing designed in Brooklyn. The piece is planted with herbs and edibles, including peppers, thyme, kale and rosemary. It's located near an outdoor kitchen, so the chef can harvest fresh ingredients for grilling.  A nearby stone countertop makes food prep easy.

A raised patio and dry laid wall distinguish this Upper East Side garden, designed by Brook Landscape. The white bluestone patio at the forefront uses the same tile as the kitchen on the bottom floor of the home. Two dogwoods flank the steps, while boxwoods thrive along the back, along with climbing hydrangeas and English ivy.

It took Klausing a couple of days, he says, to use a chain saw and carve this rocking chair out of a log. The chair now sits at the Surf Lodge in Montauk, New York.

TODAY’s Tamron Hall explores the world of gardening with the help of hunky expert Brook Klausing, who shows her which plants are easiest to nurture in your location, along with some hardy varieties perfect for those whose thumbs aren’t quite so green.

Landscaping pro Brook Klausing shares secrets for creating a stylish and hip rooftop garden.

NYC production company GuyManly profiles Brook Klausing, founder and creative director of Brook Landscape in the first episode of their Small Business Stories series.

The J.Crew Creative Director Shares Her Love of Twombly, Adnet and Mouille

Style maven Jenna Lyons invited NOWNESS into her home to reveal her designer tastes beyond fashion. Known for outfits that mix disheveled chic with high-contrast pieces, such as the cashmere sweater and feather skirt she wore at the recent Met Ball, the J.Crew President and Creative Director effortlessly transfers this originality to the home. A bedroom suite with chalkboard-black walls, and a striped ceiling to make one's eyes pop, are just two of the gutsy features to be found in her and artist husband Vincent Mazeau’s lovingly restored Brooklyn brownstone. “Designing clothes and making outfits is exactly the same process as doing a room,” Lyons says. “It’s all about how things play off of each other.” Whether putting sequins on cargo pants, decorating an entire J.Crew store bathroom orange, or placing an oversized chandelier in an otherwise casual room, the New Yorker’s uncommon visual hijinks have turned her into an interiors star. Relaxing in her garden, designed by Brook Landscape, Lyons gave us the skinny on her decorating loves.

Serge Mouille
The Serge Mouille light fixtures look as good to me now as when they were originally created. They have a real quality of materials that is hard to find today. I have one in my bedroom, one in my office, and we use them in the store a lot. They are just incredibly simple, the shapes are elegant and they are absolutely timeless. 

Jacques Adnet
I am obsessed with Jacques Adnet. I don’t have anything by him, but I have been searching for this beautiful bookshelf that I probably can’t afford but I want in my life at some point. His work feels masculine (with the leather and tacks), but the scale of the pieces is actually really delicate. It’s what I like about men's tailoring. It feels very masculine, but when you see it in size, it’s not overpowering.

Cy Twombly
All I have ever wanted is a Cy Twombly. Now that he’s passed away, I am sure I won’t be able to afford one. There is a $30 million triptych at the Gagosian right now that I am obsessed with. It’s a strange thing to love something so much and have it be completely out of your reach. It’s not like I want a private plane, do you know what I mean? I fantasize about Cy Twombly, and I will probably never have it, and it breaks my heart.
 

E.R. Butler
E.R. Butler, who makes gorgeous hardware, was kind enough to custom-make some light switches for me in un-lacquered brass and black. They are really heavy and clean, with no bevel—just a flat plaque, with two push buttons. They have patina’d over time. These things that look polished and clean make all the difference in a home. If we ever sell the house, I will replace every light switch and take them with me.

Roman and Williams
I don’t pay attention to decorators so much, but I like what the Roman and Williams team is doing right now. They did a beach house in the Hamptons that I think is incredibly beautiful. It doesn’t look like a Hamptons house; there is no white lacquer or expensive sheets. I like things to look messy and undone. There is a sense of ease and a sense of discovery.

The Entourage Star and Eco-Advocate Invites NOWNESS Into His Green Garden

Adrian Grenier is best known for playing irresponsible Hollywood star Vincent Chase on Entourage, but his home and garden prove the guy has serious green credentials. A longtime believer in sustainable living, the 34-year-old Grenier has been quietly renovating the Victorian house in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighborhood he bought in 2005 to suit his sensibilities. Along with insulating the walls with recycled denim and installing solar panels, he enlisted Brook Landscape to design an "eclectic and resourceful" outdoor space, which included hand-carving an urban-milled log into a bespoke bench and planting a roof garden on top of the recently converted carriage house adjacent. With the eighth and final season of his hit HBO show currently airing on Sunday nights in the US, Grenier is spending more time on his off-screen activities––producing documentaries, playing music, and concentrating on SHFT, his Webby-award-winning site promoting eco-friendly living. Amidst the wisteria and paperbark maples shading his reclaimed bluestone patio, Grenier gave NOWNESS a piece of his green mind.

Tell us about your roof garden. 
I have a little garage that I converted into a carriage house, a guest retreat. It has a green roof that is basically succulent, with self-sufficient plants and gravel. They need very little maintenance, but they provide great insulation and prevent water run-off, which is responsible for carrying contaminants within cities to the oceans. A green roof helps to insulate the property better so you don't need as much air conditioning in summer or heat in the winter. 

Do you still have a place in Los Angeles?
I do, although I might be letting it go simply because Entourage is over. I'm doing SHFT.com, a lifestyle website bringing you the coolest things in sustainability. It’s trying to nudge my sustainable ideas and lifestyle choices into pop culture by using art and design as the vehicle. It’s about building partnerships with bigger brands, while at the same time putting forth our message of sustainability through living well. Living long by living well. 

“Living long by living well.” Is that your mantra? 
Yeah. We're essentially trying to show that in order for life to be worth preserving, it has to be a quality life. We need to re-connect with who we are as human beings, how we live on the planet and find greater respect for ourselves and the wider world by starting to appreciate every moment. 

Why do you see New York as a good place for a sustainable lifestyle?
One reason I love New York is that it's so primed for green growth. I've been lucky enough to have a lot of green around me growing up. I always envision the city having more around: utilizing rooftops, ripping up sidewalks and planting trees.