Sanctuary of YUM: Exotic Orchards & Wellness Programs. Bonsall, California.
The Sanctuary of YUM in Bonsall, San Diego, is a landscape of exotic orchards, healing gardens, and wellness programs. Designed as a retreat, it integrates ecological intelligence with community, art, and regenerative farming practices.
A private estate reimagined as a sanctuary of wellness, exotic orchards, and ritual spaces.
The Sanctuary of YUM in Bonsall, California is a landscape designed to nourish both body and spirit. Blending exotic orchards with native California systems, the garden creates a place where food, art, and wellness come together. At its heart lies a ritual labyrinth — a space for walking meditation and reflection. Every element is designed as part of an evolutionary intelligent system, supporting ecological cycles while providing spaces for contemplation, community, and healing.
A short film of the Sanctuary of YUM in Bonsall, a four-acre retreat blending exotic orchards, a meditation labyrinth, wellness spaces, and farm-to-table gardens. Designed by LASD Studio, it is a living sanctuary for restoration, community, and ecological beauty.
Concept Vision — Landscape as Healing Sanctuary
The Sanctuary of YUM was imagined as more than a garden — it is a living sanctuary where every element contributes to restoration, wellness, and beauty. The design draws inspiration from both ancient ritual landscapes and contemporary ecological science, creating a place where visitors feel grounded in nature while connected to something larger than themselves. Pathways, water, and planting flow as one continuous system, offering an experience of balance, serenity, and renewal.
Exotic Orchards & Edible Gardens
At the heart of the design lies an orchard of exotic and Mediterranean fruit trees, weaving productivity with artistry. Citrus, figs, olives, pomegranates, and subtropical species form a lush edible landscape, supporting both culinary delight and ecological resilience. Interplanted herbs and pollinator-friendly groundcovers attract bees and butterflies, ensuring that the garden is as alive with biodiversity as it is with flavor. The orchard becomes a daily ritual of nourishment — a reminder of the cycles of growth and harvest.
Ritual Labyrinth — Path of Reflection
The labyrinth is conceived as a sacred journey — a place for meditation, mindfulness, and personal reflection. Inspired by traditional forms yet adapted for this site, its spiraling path encourages slow movement and inner focus. Surrounded by aromatic planting and shaded by native trees, the labyrinth serves as the spiritual core of the sanctuary, a space where landscape, body, and spirit come into alignment.
Outdoor Living & Wellness Programs
The estate is structured around a series of outdoor rooms designed for wellness, family life, and celebration. Shaded terraces, yoga decks, water features, and contemplative seating areas invite both activity and stillness. Every gathering space is framed by views of orchards and hills, reinforcing the connection between healthy living and ecological abundance. The garden becomes not only a place to inhabit, but a lifestyle rooted in nature’s rhythms.
Ecological Foundations — Water, Soil, and Biodiversity
Beneath its beauty, the Sanctuary of YUM is built on strong ecological foundations. Advanced irrigation systems optimize water use, while soil restoration techniques improve fertility and resilience. Native California species are interwoven with exotic plantings to support biodiversity and ensure long-term sustainability. By aligning horticultural practices with ecological intelligence, the landscape thrives as a self-sustaining system that evolves gracefully over time.
EXISTING CONDITION
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
This four-acre estate in Bonsall has been transformed into a sanctuary of exotic orchards and wellness programs, designed to host both private and group retreats. Our collaboration began in 2020, when owners Laurence and Yulia reached out with a dream of creating a retreat center but were unsure how to bring it to life.
Together, we developed a holistic vision for the landscape. Over the course of two years and many thoughtful refinements, that vision evolved into the sanctuary you see today. What impressed us most was the passion of Laurence and Yulia — not only did they understand the design intentions, they became deeply engaged in shaping every step of the process.
Originally, the land held fifty-year-old avocado and pomegranate orchards in decline. Through careful pruning, planting of cover crops, and natural methods to attract pollinators, the owners lovingly restored these orchards. We complemented their work with new design layers:
A temple garden for meditation and spiritual practice
The Dragon’s Den, a multipurpose retreat space with hot/cold tubs, dining and dance areas, and a Balinese entryway
An eighty-foot pergola farm table for farm-to-table events
Over 3,000 square feet of vegetable and flower terraces
A new waterfall and pond adding movement and reflection to the landscape
Today, the Sanctuary of YUM is a true oasis — a place where people come to restore energy, celebrate life, and connect with nature through food, art, and community.
Please check Sanctuary of YUM - https://sanctuaryofyum.com/
Spiritual Rebirth Sanctuary Garden – Encinitas, California
A Sanctuary Garden in Encinitas, California, designed as a vision of spiritual rebirth. Featuring meadows, meditation gardens, bioretention ponds, and native plantings, this landscape merges ecology, art, and wellness into a living sanctuary.
“An Ecological and Spiritual Landscape Transformation”
At LASD Studio, we believe gardens can become sanctuaries — places where people reconnect with nature, art, and themselves. The Spiritual Rebirth Sanctuary Garden in Encinitas was envisioned as more than a private garden: it is a living landscape of healing, renewal, and ecological balance.
Video presentation of the Spiritual Rebirth Sanctuary Garden in Encinitas, California — a meditative landscape design by LASD Studio featuring flowing pathways, water features, ecological planting for pollinators, and contemplative spaces that unite spirituality, biodiversity, and modern garden design.
Philosophy of the Design
The design draws inspiration from the essence of rebirth and transformation, where the garden evolves as an ecological and spiritual system. Influenced by both Eastern philosophy and the Southern California landscape, the project integrates ecological restoration with contemplative spaces.
The garden is not only a visual composition but a journey through energy, flow, and balance.
Every path, plant, and water element is designed to restore harmony between humans and the living environment.
Key Design Features
Meditation Lawn & Sanctuary Spaces
Open, grounded areas where stillness invites reflection.
Flowing Pathways
Curved circulation inspired by natural energy flows, guiding the visitor through stages of rebirth.
Water & Fire Elements
Balancing opposites, symbolizing purification, clarity, and transformation.
Native & Spiritual Planting Palette
Resilient species combined with symbolic plantings that attract pollinators, restore soil health, and offer seasonal beauty.
Sculptural & Artistic Integration
Bespoke garden elements that connect art, spirit, and ecology.
Ecological and Spiritual Layers
This sanctuary is also an ecological restoration project, rewilding the soil and inviting birds, pollinators, and beneficial wildlife back into the property. The design follows LASD Studio’s principle of Designing Landscapes as Evolutionary Systems, ensuring that the garden is not static, but continually evolves with nature and with the people who inhabit it.
The Experience
Stepping into the Encinitas Sanctuary Garden means entering a space where landscape becomes meditation. It is a contemporary interpretation of sacred gardens, deeply rooted in sustainability, spirituality, and timeless beauty.
Ethno Village – Reykjavik, Iceland
Ethno Village in Reykjavik, Iceland, is a free-form cultural and ecological campus. Featuring spherical traveler pods, a carnival center with a green roof, and an outdoor concert area, it offers space for festivals, retreats, and sustainable community living.
“A Cultural Landscape of Connection, Nature, and Community”
Ethno Village Reykjavik Cultural Landscape Vision
A Living Sanctuary in Icelandic Nature
Ethno Village is envisioned as a free-form cultural landscape where visitors can fully connect with the natural rhythms of Reykjavik. Designed for both locals and travelers, the space offers opportunities for weekend retreats, ethnic festivals, meditation and yoga classes, team-building, and cultural events.
Concept video of Ethno Village in Reykjavik, Iceland, presenting a futuristic cultural retreat with spherical eco-pods, geothermal steam, and communal gathering spaces, designed by LASD Studio.
Design Features
Spherical Traveler Pods – movable eco-pods that offer unique accommodation in harmony with the land.
Carnival Center – a main facility building with a green roof, blending architecture and ecology.
Concert & Event Area – an open-air gathering space for music, art, and community celebrations.
Sustainable Vision
The design embodies flexibility, ecological balance, and cultural storytelling. With relocatable pods and natural zoning, Ethno Village evolves over time, responding to the needs of its visitors while maintaining biodiversity and minimal impact on the land.
Global Relevance
Ethno Village reflects LASD Studio’s philosophy: creating landscapes that balance human culture with ecological continuity. It is both a destination and a living artwork — where tourism, community, and sustainability converge.
Butterfly garden. Poway, California.
A butterfly garden in Poway, California, created to restore biodiversity and wildlife. With pollinator planting, native habitats, and ecological balance, this project celebrates harmony between people and nature.
LASD Studio works across garden design, landscape architecture, urban design, and regional landscape design. Our goal is to live in balance with nature. With landscape design, we have to close the cycle of clean water, fresh air, ready to plant soil, and other vital resources for the next generation.
The landscape is alive; it blooms years and years after our magical work. Private gardens in San Diego, California, nominated as one of the best landscape design for nature restoration. We created this garden to enhance wildlife and biodiversity and being able to live in unity as one gentle open synergetic system.
Our landscape, ecology, civilization, and the future of the planet are at risk. We aim to create, shape, and restore the landscape and urban environments for the sustainable continuation of life on our planet. Our goal is to live in balance with nature and provide clean water, air, soil resources for the next generation.
We cannot achieve our goal alone. Whether you are an individual, commercial business, an NGO, or governmental institution, you are welcome to join our mission.
Life begins with you. Join our mission today.
Butterfly garden
San Diego, California