Mariner's Cove

The concept of navigating home has a profound tie to the San Diego military culture of the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. This provides the inspiration for the Mariner's Cove development. It is a place for former military to call home as they continue with their lives as civilians. Mutual respect, security, community and healing are woven into the fabric of this Eden-like neighborhood, through the planning, architecture, amenities, landscape and proximity to the unparalleled beauty of local southern California natural environments. Sited in the Ocean Beach neighborhood along the Famosa Slough, the project replaces an obsolete 1970s garden apartment complex with 772 new apartments across six small-scale neighborhoods (Altair, Lyra, Vega, Astra, Mira and the Quonset) organized around a central promenade, main street and park. The plan is designed to be consistent with the Ocean Beach Community Plan and incorporates sustainable strategies. We collaborated with the architects to master-plan the community, while designing all outdoor environmental experiences. There is a range of playful, evocative and provocative spaces and objects throughout with military themes, while also looking to the future of resort style life. Our clients praised the progressive, inspiring designs and the surrounding community is emphatically embracing the care we took with the existing wetland and slough park experiences that are linked to an adjacent waterway and trail system.