About
The Practice
Approach
Awards
Projects
Publications
Books + Lectures
Press
Elements
Sculptural Elements
Art
Thought & Practice
Contact

Karla Dakin

About
The Practice
Approach
Awards
Projects
Publications
Books + Lectures
Press
Elements
Sculptural Elements
Art
Thought & Practice
Contact
Prairie Ponds and Pools

Prairie Ponds and Pools

This 17-acre site in south Denver offered generous space for multiple uses: kitchen food and flower beds, natural prairie, reflecting pool, pond and rain gardens. The property was previously home to a founder of the Denver Botanical Garden, and was thus planted with many rare and beautiful trees.

Prairie Ponds and Pools

Prairie Ponds and Pools

This 17-acre site in south Denver offered generous space for multiple uses: kitchen food and flower beds, natural prairie, reflecting pool, pond and rain gardens. The property was previously home to a founder of the Denver Botanical Garden, and was thus planted with many rare and beautiful trees.

Modern Homestead

Modern Homestead

This landscape design melds contemporary architecture with the pasturelands beyond to create a homestead for modern living. 

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Prairie Boulder Garden

Prairie Boulder Garden

This terraced rock garden sits on a large property with small areas of intensive use. The clients had imported over 900 tons of rock (some weighing over 13 tons) shipped from Wyoming, so the garden was designed around the setting of these stones. 

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Labyrinth Garden

Labyrinth Garden

Avid gardeners, the clients are creating a park-like estate and permacultural paradise with multiple uses.

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Michigan Garden

Michigan Garden

Having settled in a semi-arid Rocky Mountain location, the client wished to create a haven that would harken back to the farms and gardens of her Michigan childhood.

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Canyon House

Canyon House

Geometry and formal elements harmonize with the softness and color of flowers and grasses. Landscaping creates a bridge between lodge-like architecture and the backdrop of the mountains beyond.

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Elkstone High-Altitude Permaculture Garden

Elkstone High-Altitude Permaculture Garden

This demonstration garden, located 8,000 feet above sea level, was a way for the client to connect and give back to the surrounding agricultural community of Steamboat Springs. The challenge was to design a high-altitude food garden in a harsh climate. 

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Equestrian Flower Farm

Equestrian Flower Farm

This 77 acre horse estate is an ongoing project. Dakin has worked with the owner to design an organic flower farm growing zinnias, dahlias and other annual flowers that the owner sells at local markets and farm stands.


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AREA, Kumbo, Cameroon

AREA, Kumbo, Cameroon

A site for an exchange program and residency for local and international students. AREA sits on 300 acres in the verdant hills of Kumbo, Nso, in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. AREA is dedicated to supporting a corps of young artists, writers, entrepreneurs and civic leaders.

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Prairie Ponds and Pools
Prairie Ponds and Pools
Modern Homestead
Pool.jpg
DSCN3619.jpg
IMG_4634.jpg
IMG_4685.jpg
IMG_4714.jpg
DSCN3647.jpg
2013-2.jpg
Prairie Boulder Garden
IMAG2768.jpg
IMAG2771.jpg
IMAG2792.jpg
Labyrinth Garden
MVIMG_20180907_142644.jpg
MVIMG_20180907_142216.jpg
MVIMG_20180907_142434.jpg
MVIMG_20180423_132037.jpg
MVIMG_20180907_141942.jpg
MVIMG_20180313_134129.jpg
MVIMG_20180608_105700.jpg
MVIMG_20180907_142723.jpg
20170524_125307.jpg
Michigan Garden
IMG_4306.jpg
Canyon House
DSCN1882b.jpg
DSCN1891 crop.jpg
DSCN1939.jpg
DSCN1965.jpg
Laberynth.jpg
Elkstone High-Altitude Permaculture Garden
IMG_3276.jpg
IMG_3316.jpg
IMG_3374.jpg
IMG_3401.jpg
IMG_3410.jpg
IMG_3412.jpg
P1011647.jpg
P1011985.jpg
MVIMG_20180804_102950.jpg
Equestrian Flower Farm
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AREA, Kumbo, Cameroon
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2021-03-21 at 10.16.29 AM.jpg
IMG_20190525_112405.jpg
IMG_20190813_092048.jpg
IMG_20190813_092109.jpg
IMG_20190813_132008.jpg
MVIMG_20191022_171428.jpg
MVIMG_20191023_084753.jpg
Screen Shot 2021-03-21 at 10.15.51 AM.jpg
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KD2.jpg
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DSC_0067.jpg
DSC_0097.jpg
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KD22.jpg
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MVIMG_20190916_093212.jpg
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View fullsize Sequoiadendron giganteum. Definitely giganteum. #walk #tree #huge #sequoia
View fullsize Shades of pink of Rosa woodsii on along the trail. Then a cactus bloom. #walk
View fullsize What you might wonder catches my designer/plant geek's eye at the ever magnificent Denver Botanic Gardens? The thriving carpinus/hornbeams, clematis without a trellis scrambling over roses (great color combo), a shrub I have never heard of (Sweet shr
View fullsize Even though winter became summer in what seemed like 24 hours and the temperature is scorching, the penstemons are rocking it. #walk #wildflowers #wildflower #penstemon
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K. Dakin Design  |  1240 LaFarge Ave. Louisville, CO 80027  |  303-604-2988