GOLDEN  HOUR                                                        [     landscape  design studio     ]
a cinematic, unifying time of day,
a window of opportunity.

[ framing nature with a wild edge ]

Golden Hour is dedicated to bringing vibrant places into the world that foster curiosity and horticultural intrigue. I design at scales from residential to public garden and landscape, intimate urban plot to rambling rural estate. 

With each project, the portal opens with close listening and observation on site before a sensitive response comes together. The design process moves through concept exploration, proposals of hard and soft elements, design development with incorporation of feedback, and construction documentation.  The project is carefully guided through planning, building, and planting phases, while engagement and close collaboration with contractors, suppliers, artisans, and gardeners/stewards ensures that the vision comes to life and flourishes as imagined.

  





Let’s get out more and inhabit our bodies, attend to humble things. Chatbot embedded in your left wrist? Me too! Another reason to  s l o w  and engage with the outdoor environment. A garden provides a venue for growing practices of noticing and feeling, through time. 



Every project is an opportunity to support habitat, a small tithe toward the other complex tenants of Earth. Gardens are more than pretty; they can be designed to feed the life web and contribute to biodiversity, one host plant at a time - especially impactful in urban areas as the insect apocalypse continues.




  •       Approaches & Ingredients

  • Hands-on listening and learning
  • Edit and adapt rather than wipe the slate clean
  • Context and playful moments of dissonance
  • Stewarding one’s own garden (babysteps are sweet)
  • Natural non-chemical solutions
  • A curious relationship w/ the Picturesque
  • Surprising details + ephemeral wonders 
  • New life and purpose for old materials
  • Composting the past to fertilize the future 
  • Teasing out stories
  • Thou Shalt Not Bore



The Aim is to create a thing of interest, benefit, and beauty in collaboration with client and site, while also broadening the notion of what that thing might be…  Beautiful garden? Gift? New perceptions? New body? New relationships? Yes. Yes. Yes. Maybe! Yes!


Rafael earned a Master’s of Landscape Architecture from UC Berkeley (2017) and a certificate of horticulture from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (2012). Previously, he designed residential and institutional landscapes with Ron and team at the award-winning firm Lutsko Associates, from 2017-2022. He has also hustled in the wilds of arts administration and horticulture in New York City, where he worked at world-class public gardens including the High Line and Brooklyn Bridge Park. 

Golden Hour is an evolving queer-led business in SF, working in the unceded homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples.
garden, please: rafael@goldenhourlandscape.com  


1st built work pictured designed while at Lutsko Associates. Site under construction