Episode
He's Been Designing California's Outdoors for Decades. Here's What He's Learned.
- Podcast
- Unpacked by Afar
- Published
- Mar 27, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2833
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://www.afar.com/podcasts/unpacked
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Summary
This is a very special episode of Unpacked by Afar. This week, we hosted Unpacked Live — a live version of the podcast — in partnership with Visit California in Dallas, Texas. The event celebrated California's extraordinary creative landscape, and today's guest has literally shaped the ground beneath many Californian's feet. Roderick Wyllie is an award-winning landscape architect and founding partner of Surfacedesign Inc. A rare San Francisco native, he's helped design some of the Bay Area's most beloved public spaces, including the Lands End Visitor Center above Sutro Baths, a plaza at the Golden Gate Bridge, and Mission Bayfront Park. He also teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In this episode, Roderick talks about growing up in 1970s San Francisco, what it means to design with rather than against a place, and why he thinks California's greatest creative export might be optimism. On this episode, you'll learn: What it was like to grow up in San Francisco in the 1970s and 80s — and how that "wild frontier" shaped Roderick's creative practice Why Surfacedesign approaches every project like a crime scene investigation, searching for the story embedded in the land How Roderick thinks about water — both as a design tool and as a precious resource in a drought-prone state What he's learning from a current winery rethink at the iconic Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa Where he sends travelers who want to experience California through the lens of landscape and design Travel Recommendations from Roderick: Wineries & Gardens Faust, Napa Valley — A Victorian estate with planting designed to move from light to dark, inspired by the mythology of Faust; beautiful valley views Buena Vista Winery, Sonoma — One of California's most historically significant wine sites, beaut…