David Godshall

Instagram: @terremoto_landscape

David Godshall is the co-founder of Terremoto, a radical landscape architecture office that straddles the worlds of garden making, installation and theory. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?: My Saturdays right now are pretty heavenly. I get up early and take my older son to the community pool for swim lessons. Then we go to my parent's house, I ditch the kids and go for a long run in this beautiful watershed park in Pasadena, which is the only "me" time I get these days, so I cherish that run. Then back to my parents house and we usually garden for an hour or two, then I go and work the afternoon shift at Plant Material, a cool plant nursery I'm a part owner of. Landscape architecture and the work we do at Terremoto tends to be complex, and working a comparatively low stress retail job is, well, totally lovely and clear, and I sincerely enjoy it. At 4pm I close the shop, go home, drink a beer, eat dinner, and dance with my two boys, who are hilarious. It's a really good day.

Which living person do you most admire?: Gilles Clement maybe? He's an otherworldly Frenchman who drifts between garden-making, philosophy and art, though he decidedly insists he is "A Gardener." He's a north star for me, in a way.

What is your greatest extravagance?: I own three cars, which is horrible and ridiculous, but I find it comes in handy.

What is your current state of mind?: I'm good, thankful and calm. It's been a year, but my businesses are strong, my family is healthy, my team at Terremoto is crushing it and working with everyone is really a dream. So I'm grateful. Cheesy, but cheese is delicious!

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?: Bombast. I abhor the "look at me" culture that social media has created. I most admire humans and practices that do quiet, powerful work.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?: I say "robust" way too much. But it's a good word!

Which talent would you most like to have?: I wish I could sing beautifully. I can't!

If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?: An Arctostaphylos glauca growing out of a crack in a rock somewhere in Northern California. A view would be nice.

Where would you most like to live?: Los Angeles will do just fine (fires aside) for my foreseeable career and to raise my children. It's not perfect, but I'll take it. I dream about retirement..........Sea Ranch? Joshua Tree? Maybe go back and forth between the two places? Winter in JT and summer in SR?

What is your most treasured possession?: We have a large boulder in our office I really dig. I have three Sycamore trees at my house I planted about four years ago now, I love them. But neither of those things are really "possessions" in the conventional sense, which makes me admit I don't invest much, emotionally speaking, in objects or things.

What do you most value in your friends?: Laughter and their time. On Sundays now I have an informal thing with some old friends of mine where we go to this lovely park near Chinatown in Los Angeles, and we just hang out for a couple hours in the afternoon and gossip and riff and our kids chase each other around the park and we just bliss out and it's wonderful. I value that time with them.

Who are your favorite writers?: JB Jackson, Georgina Reid, Gilles Clement, Jonathon Froines, Mimi Zeiger