We specialize in narrative landscapes in public places. This is a strategy in which the unique qualities of a place are expressed in the landscape, either overtly or metaphorically, to create a place like no other. This approach involves some research, but inevitably yields a specific solution that reflects the unique history, culture, or nature of a place. In this manner, our design is intrinsic to the place, revealing its special qualities. Such design becomes more compelling to visitors and users who come to appreciate the nuance of a landscape that tells a story, while at the same time providing the benefits of greenery, ecological services, and recreation.

We are interested in creating landscapes that perform ecological services. We incorporate the principles of sustainability from initial concept to completed project. Especially in urban spaces, it is vital that landscape helps purify the air, cleanse the water, cool the temperatures, reduce energy costs, and recycle materials. We use the Sustainable Sites Initiative as our benchmark and make design decisions with that document as a filter. For us, this does not occur at the end of design, but at the beginning. We also believe that sustainability does not mean we must sacrifice good design. We call our approach “sustainability with style”, and we believe that we can create landscapes that are visually striking, while improving the health of the environment.

We have created dozens of urban spaces, both public and private, that are magnets for people and become outdoor living rooms for socialization and recreation. We understand the need for flexibility and multiple uses of urban spaces. We also seek to create places that are safe, comfortable, and convenient, so that people visit them time and again. Finally, we understand that these places need to address the needs of all: young and old; rich and poor; resident and visitor; and able and disabled. Thus, we seek in our design a simple elegance of form, material, and character that will stand the test of time; not a trendy look that will be outdated in a matter of years. We understand that we are building upon history and that our work is but a piece in the continuum of the history of the city.

Alexandria, Virginia

We participated in this project in two different roles of involvement with the City of Alexandria. We were the lead designer with EDAW in the master plan effort. Subsequently, we were a consulting landscape architect to The Olin Studio for the implementation phase of work.

The City of Alexandria has a vibrant historic core that enjoys robust visitation every year, but its waterfront features areas of empty warehouses, under utilized surface parking and incomplete pedestrian paths. We worked in tandem with city planners to create a master plan for the revitalization of the waterfront, with an emphasis on balancing new open space with new Alexandria development, in an effort to ensure economic and environmental sustainability. The goals for the plan were shaped by an extensive public outreach process and included continuous pedestrian and bicycle access along the entire two mile length of the study area, a net increase in open space, a net increase in parking and harmonious balance between the scale of the historic city fabric and new buildings. The plan was crafted to connect new open spaces to new development blocks, so that the parks could ultimately be a proffer for development projects, and that the net increase in property tax could provide monies for future maintenance of these open spaces. Further, by creating strong links between new developments, the parks would be activated by the users of those buildings. New development was limited to underutilized or vacant properties, with an emphasis on preserving existing historic buildings and matching the scale of the new with old. The open spaces feature a variety of strategies of sustainable design, including biofiltration areas to cleanse storm water, wind turbines to power dock lights and porous paving to reduce storm water runoff.

Client: City of Alexandria

Render © Olin Studio

Boston, Massachusetts

Wharf District Park is the four-acre centerpiece of the park system that arose out of the Big Dig in Boston. This project transformed an impervious highway into a green oasis and reconnected downtown to the harbor. Through an extensive public consensus process, we came to a park design that was the common ground for all stakeholders.

The park consists of four separate parcels unified by a consistent pattern of walkways, planting, and lighting. The genesis of the design lies in revealing the historic pattern of the wharfs that started in the 1600’s and were extended seaward over time. The park design reflects that land making process with granite plazas that trace the location and extent of the five wharfs within the park. These plazas serve as walkways, fountains, and seating areas for park users and create a new set of connections from city to harbor. A pair of paths frame the park in a north/south direction. On the city side is a formal tree-lined promenade suitable for social gatherings, festivals, and markets. On the harbor side is an informal meandering walk lined by a continuous edge of salvaged wharf stones collected during the construction process. These historic granite stones act as both seat wall and planter, holding waves of native plantings in a naturalized pattern. The park also features a signature fountain, interpretive artworks, and dramatic light blades that provide seasonal light displays. The greening of the site has improved air, water, and noise quality in the neighborhood and created a vibrant new place for people.

Client: Massachusetts Turnpike Authority

Photo 1 © CWDG Photo © EDAW

Louisville, Kentucky

In the early 1990’s, West Main Street in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, was a three block area of blighted buildings, vacant storefronts, and empty sidewalks. We were commissioned to create a plan to revitalize the sector. Through a three day public charrette, we learned that the site had a unique architectural resource - a strong collection of cast iron building from the late nineteenth century. We created a plan that celebrated that heritage and used the streetscape to tell the story of the significance and quality of the architecture.

Our plan featured widened sidewalks, bulbouts at intersections, street trees , and special site furnishings to create a pedestrian-friendly environment. To reveal the rhythm of the architecture, we designed a brick paving band that emanated from the base of each column, and crossed the sidewalk. Street trees were positioned at each building party wall to highlight each individual building. In addition, all of the street furnishings, including a bus shelter, were of cast iron. In total the streetscape acts as an outdoor museum , paying homage to the unique quality of the place.

As a result, West Main Street has become the most desirable sector of downtown, with over $300 million invested in offices, residences, museums, and restaurants. The project was named one of America’s best streets by both the APA and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Client: Louisville Development Authority

Photo © EDAW

Atlanta, Georgia

In 1996, the city of Atlanta hosted the 100th anniversary of the Modern Olympic Games. To recognize this event, the city conceived the idea of a 25 acre park downtown. The design was conceived in a week long charrette on the site. During that charrette, we learned of the theme of the games - Quilt of Leaves - and used that as our inspiration for a bold pattern of landscape that resembled a quilt. We incorporated those ideas into the design, so that the park became a quilt at a civic scale.

The park include Olympic Plaza, a 100 meter square paved gathering area that features the Rings Fountain, five overlapping rings that serves as the symbol of the games. This interactive fountain was a delight to Olympic visitors and continues to be a prime attraction even today. Various other programmed areas are located throughout the quilted park, including the great lawn performance area, the amphitheater, theme gardens, and the water garden. Each of these areas has a unique character, allowing for a variety of experiences within the park. What holds these disparate elements together is the quilt pattern itself, with its strong geometry of walkways. These walkways are coupled to surrounding streets, so that visitors approach the park from all directions and flow seamlessly throughout the park as part of their daily lives in the city.

The park was built in phases and much of the construction dollars were raised from the sale of individual bricks. These bricks, over 400,000 total, are arranged along the main walkways. We provided a plan of the donor bricks and a key map so that visitors can find their brick and share their contribution with friends and visitors. While the park was built for a single event in 1996, its lasting legacy is that it has become the village green for a city of 4 million.

Client: Georgia World Congress Center

Photo © EDAW. Photo 3 © Leo Alvarez

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Ross’s Landing is a six acre park and plaza associated with the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. Through an intensive public charrette at the beginning of the project, we learned of the rich history of the city and its environment and were encouraged to embrace those unique qualities in our design.  The sentiment we heard most was that from anywhere in the downtown one could always see the nearby mountains.  We captured this notion of nature and city in the overall pattern of the plan: a series of alternating bands of planting and paving that led from city to river through the park.  This created a unique tapestry of color, texture, and topography. Within this landscape we embedded a series of landscape artworks that revealed the unique history of the city, from its railroad heritage, its industrial products, and founder, John Ross.

We also learned that the infamous Trail of Tears, the forced march of the Cherokee tribe, had started at the site.  We recognized this event with a series pavement pieces that chronicled the sequence of events that led to that tragedy, culminating in John Ross’s unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court. This poignant reminder of the authentic history of place makes Ross’s Landing like no other place.

The park and aquarium served as a catalyst for the downtown, which has led to over $300 million in private investment since the park opened.Hundreds of apartments, dozens of restaurants, and several museums have opened on the riverfront and it is a vibrant part of downtown today.

Client: River City Company

Photo © EDAW

Herndon, Virginia

Dulles Corner is a 100 acre mixed use office park in Herndon that includes headquarters for Northrop Grumman and Deltek. It is designed around a series of parks and open spaces, with each office, hotel, or residential building fronting upon one of these spaces.

We designed the major parks and streetscapes that form the connective tissue of the project. Central Park is the four acre centerpiece of the development and includes a storm water pond, garden pavilions, and extensive walking paths. It is used daily by employees for exercise, outdoor meetings, and café lunches. Its design recognizes its context adjacent to Dulles Airport with a garden promenade that steps gently down the slope perpendicular to the main runway. A pavilion of glass block terminates that walkway and acts to frame views of aircraft taking off and landing nearby. A 20’ high geyser in the storm water pond mitigates the noise of the aircraft with a soothing splash of water.

Extensive seating areas, for groups and individuals, are sprinkled throughout the park, so it is well used in all seasons. The upper pond is marked by a sculpture commissioned for the project, “Birds in Flight” by Lin Emery.

Client: Sequoia Development

Photo © EDAW

Silver Spring, Maryland

Discovery Communications selected a site in downtown Silver Spring for its 600,000 sf headquarters. We works as a sub-consultant to SmithGroup architects to create a plaza and a garden for employees and the public. We were intrigued by the essence of the corporate mission to create non-fiction films and series about our natural and built world and sought to capture that essence in the landscape.

For the plaza, we responded to the striking curving form of the building and extended that into a full circle in plan. That form inspired us to create a paving pattern evocative of the big bang, the origin of the universe billions of years ago, and the source of all matter and energy. This pattern is marked by a black granite medallion at the center, surrounded by a fractured bluestone field and then radially concentric brick bands to mimic the pulse of energy of that moment. During construction, we came upon a series of boulders from the excavation of the building and inserted them into this pattern as seats, set randomly to reinforce the landscape metaphor.

For the garden, we created a series of plantings that reflect each of our five senses, as that is how we “discover” our world. Thus we carefully selected plants that exhibit traits of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. These are organized in a pattern of curvilinear planters with seating edges, using fractals, the geometry of nature, as the basis of those forms. Thus, the garden has a unique form and content that speaks to discovery. The owner installed an interpretive sign in the garden to communicate the meaning and value of the garden, so that visitors and employees may appreciate its concept.

Client: SmithGroup Architects

Photo © EDAW

University Park, Pennsylvania

The Penn State Research Park is a 130 acre mixed use development planned to bring the knowledge from the university’s research programs to market. As such, the building program includes incubator space, laboratories, office space, a hotel conference center and a day care facility. The site was a fallow agricultural field on the edge of town, but adjacent to an interstate highway, so it lay in the path of smart growth.

We chose to reflect the character of the agrarian landscape in the plan for the research park through a series of patterns found in that cultural landscape. Thus, the plan is organized around a central spine road that follows carefully the ridge of the site, with clusters of buildings aggregated along it, much as farmsteads typically have clusters of houses, barns, and sheds in a small area. We marked the center of each cluster with a bosque of trees to mimic the form of an orchard and separated each cluster from each other with a hedgerow. Some of these hedgerows were existing and some were created to define each phase from the next. We also organized the parking parallel to the fall of the land, applying the principal of contour plowing to the fields of parking. In this manner, the cars visually disappear from one tray to the next as they descend down the grade. Finally, we used sweeping masses of ornamental grasses to create buffers and edges, rather than traditional foundation plantings

Taken together, these principles combine to create a unique and visually striking campus, rooted in its site and cultural landscape heritage.

Client: Morlok Development Group

Photo © EDAW

Herndon, Virginia

Woodland Park is a mixed use office, residential, and retail site encompassing 300 acres in northern Virginia. It has become the home to the regional or national headquarters of Volkswagen, Computer Associates, and Booz Allen. We designed its signature centerpiece, a four acre park, with an expressed goal of preserving the second growth forest that had taken hold in the twentieth century. Though not majestic, the woodland was the namesake of the project and warranted such preservation. After walking the site and studying the existing tree survey, we came to a design solution that not only preserved all trees over 4” in caliper, but also the forest floor as well. We created a system to provide a continuous pedestrian walkway that was made of industrial metal catwalk, set 6” above the forest floor. In effect, this grating is a form of porous paving, allowing rain water to infiltrate through the pathway and for plants to continue to grow in its shadow.

An outdoor seating area is nestled into the woods at one point, an extended metal deck area. In addition, we placed a small lawn area and pavilion in one area that had no existing trees. The park is an exemplar for low impact development strategies, as well as a stylish recreation facility for the users.

Client: Tishman Speyer

Alexandria, Virginia

We served as landscape architect on 2 msf office complex for 9,000 employees of a federal agency. Our work included all of the streetscapes, open spaces, and parks within the site, which lay in the heart of the new Carlyle neighborhood. Our concept was to celebrate the mission of the agency by using patented materials in the landscape.

We responded to the formal geometries of the building campus by architects SOM by creating an elegant central green that would serve as the common ground for employees and the general public. Within that park, all of the major materials, both hard materials and plants, have patents. The agency was delighted with this approach and provided the research to identify the inventors, patent number, and date of the patent issue. For several of these, we provided medallions in the landscape to share that information, so that as one moves through the park, one discovers these markers and comes to learn, that, for instance, even trees can have patents. This leads to an appreciation the work of the employees within the complex and a sense of pride in that work.

Client: LCOR, Inc.

Photo © EDAW

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

North Shore Park is a mile long linear park that connects Heinz Field and PNC Park on the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh. Its purpose was not only to provide game day pedestrian access, but to provide the public amenity that would stimulate the formation of a new riverfront neighborhood across the river from downtown. Thus the plan had to create access both parallel to and perpendicular to the river. We met with over 100 interest groups in a week-long charrette at the beginning of the project and their input shaped the plan in its uses and character.

Our plan features two parallel pathways; the riverwalk at water’s edge and the esplanade at the top of the embankment. The riverwalk lies within the 100 year flood plain and, in fact, floods annually. Thus, it is designed of robust concrete to withstand the forces of nature that regularly inundate it. The riverwalk is also designed to receive a variety of waterborne craft-water taxis, recreational boats and kayaks-so that park users may arrive to the park by boat. As it turns out, a significant number of sports fans arrive to games by water taxi, reducing vehicular congestion in the area. The esplanade is richly appointed with pavers, site furniture and decorative lighting, befitting its location above the floodway. It is designed to be the address for private buildings along its city side and office and retail uses have already been built in this fashion.

At two key cross streets, the park has special features, one of which brings the city out to the river, the other brings the river into the city. The former is a fishing pier designed to reflect the classic forms of the bridges across the Allegheny. The latter is a linear water fountain and water steps, that reflect the historic location of a shipping canal of the nineteenth century. These two focal points have become heavy uses areas for residents and visitors alike, as they rediscover their urban riverfront.

Client: Pittsburgh Sports & Exhibition Authority

Photo © EDAW

Suitland, Maryland

Suitland Towne Square is a 25 acre neighborhood proposed on the site of a former public housing project that was demolished in recent years, as it had become a den of drugs and crime. The client is seeking to transform the site into a community with affordable housing that will serve as a model of sustainability and healthy living. We led the design of the public realm of parks and streetscapes, with a goal of achieving a Silver rating from Sustainable Sites Initiative. To that end, the entire community is infused with landscape elements that improve air and water quality, reduce heat island effect, and reuse materials.

In particular, the two major parks are designed to reflect the highest ideals of sustainability and showcase all manner of ecological services, while creating comfortable places for people. Central Park features a wind-powered clocktower; a trellis with solar powered lights; a pergola which stores water for irrigation; and a grove of transplanted trees. Grand Park features a pavilion that stores water; vegetable gardens; recycled play elements; and rain gardens. These two open spaces serve as shining symbols of sustainable landscapes that will contribute to a healthy community of the 21stcentury.

Client: Prince George’s County Redevelopment Authority

Prince George’s County, Maryland

Westphalia Central Park is a 120 acre green space that will serve as the main amenity for a new community on 6,000 acres in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The site is a former farm, featuring a rich array of fields, streams, and rolling hills. The design for the park seeks to balance the recreation needs of the residents with a landscape that preserves agrarian heritage and restores significant areas to forests and meadows.

The park design reflects a sweeping change in the character of typical county parks, with over 60% of the park devoted to restorative landscapes: tree preservation, afforestation, and meadows. The footprint of lawns is less than 20% of the park, reserved for active recreation uses. A network of trails flows through the park, allowing visitors to explore these landscapes and to appreciate them as habitats.

The design for the core area uses biophilic forms for pathways, play areas, entry signage, and the pond. The central icon is a “cloud” fountain, a fabric structure that intermittently “rains” on children as the signature play experience in the main plaza. The core area of the park also includes playgrounds, a performance lawn, pond, skate park, and picnic areas. An extensive network of trails flows through the site, providing corridors for hikers, cyclists, and equestrians to enjoy the natural areas. The historic farmstead is preserved and will be used for agriculture and interpretation.

Client: SHF Partners Limited

Tysons, Virginia

We were commissioned to provide a landscape renovation to a green space at an office complex in Tysons . Originally designed by SOM, the complex features two identical buildings in the post-modern language, set at 45 degrees to each other. The open space formed by that arrangement was planted with grass and a few trees, without any seating or other amenities to attract people to use the space. Our solution sought to capture the crisp geometry of the architecture in a striking minimalist landscape. The plan consists of a lawn square based upon the square footprint of the buildings, with smaller squares for decorative paving and seating. The existing trees were preserved, but new ones were added to reinforce the square shape and to provide for more shade for the new seating areas. Movable chairs are proposed for the lawn, with sculptural benches proposed for the areas under the grove of trees. In addition, a new stairway was provided to allow easy access from the main complex arrival area, one floor above the rear lawn area. Taken together, these new landscape elements refresh the landscape, make it more comfortable for people, and have a stronger relationship between the landscape and the architecture.

Client: Tishman Speyer

Riverdale, Maryland

The Cafritz property is a 37 acre town center in Riverdale Park, near the campus of the University of Maryland. It is served by Metro and MARC stations nearby and will be served by the Purple Line transit in the future. As such, it is envisioned as a mixed use project comprised of residential, retail, and hotel uses. The plan, by MV+A architects, is a model of traditional town planning, with a main street and a series of urban blocks. The main street will be anchored by a Whole Foods grocery and include a variety of ancillary stores, small offices, and residential units. Our role was to create a series of parks, plazas, and streetscapes that would unify the neighborhood and provide recreational amenities for the residents. The landscape is designed in the classical vernacular, in harmony with the traditional town plan and features a significant park at the main entry to the project along Baltimore Avenue. Additional parks include a central plaza with a spray fountain, a village green with performance gazebo, a playground and nature area, and a linear park with a bicycle trail connecting to nearby College Park. The open spaces are strongly linked to each other along the main axis of the neighborhood, Van Buren Street, creating a walkable neighborhood. The project has been recognized as achieving LEED ND status.

Client: Calvin Cafritz Enterprises

Reston, Virginia

We prepared the landscape design for this 40-acre corporate campus which featured generous formal and informal gardens with a literary theme. The theme was chosen to celebrate the mission of Sallie Mae to educate the youth of America through their student loans. The building plan, by architect SOM, featured a major rotunda at the building entry, and we created a central axis from that rotunda west into the natural part of the site. At its terminus, we designed a stone pavilion, as a diminutive reference to the building rotunda. In the floor of this pavilion we placed a granite medallion engraved with a poem by Emily Dickinson, thus beginning a journey of the poetic follies in the landscape. These follies feature poems by American poets who wrote about nature, including Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and William Cullen Bryant. These poems are engraved in elements of steel, glass, and stone and are sprinkled through the site, awaiting discovery by visitors and employees as they move through the site. Each poem piece also serves as a place to rest or conduct outdoor meetings for the employees, satisfying the desire of Sallie Mae to have their employees embrace the gracious natural environment.

Client: Sallie Mae

Alexandria, Virginia

Potomac Yard is a 300 acre mixed use development on the site of a former rail yard in Alexandria. We created a concept plan, through design development, for a twenty acre linear park that served as the main recreational amenity for the thousands of residents and employees of the new neighborhood. The concept of the park emerged from a series of plan alternatives. It was selected because it reflected the patterns of the former railroad tracks in the mammoth switch yard, recalling directly the unique history of the place.

These rail lines have become pathways, playgrounds, and planting patterns in the park, with striking linear geometries, in a contemporary green space. The park features a main promenade along the seat edge, which is marked at each intersecting street along its course by a trellis element with seating. The trellis features a series of steel columns and a gently curving roof, recalling the form of rail cars that used to be stored on the site. Thus, the park reflects its historic use in ways large and small. The program of activities includes a playground, play field, basketball, tennis and volleyball, as well as a variety of passive spaces for seating, picnicking, and gathering. Two storm water management ponds are treated as site amenities with overlooks and aquatic plantings. In addition, the crossing of the historic Alexandria/Georgetown canal is marked by a rain garden, reflecting the topographic character of this historic resource.

Client: Pulte Homes

Arlington, Virginia

This small urban space lies in the center of the Arlington County office complex, which includes retail, office, and residential uses. The site included a fountain that filled one of the spaces, but was no longer functional. The owner of the project asked us to redesign the space to encourage people to gather and socialize. Our plan proposed to demolish the fountain and replace it with a series of fixed and flexible seating opportunities. The most critical resource of the plaza was an allee of existing trees. The plans included the careful protection of these trees and the new paving and seating respects the location and grades of those trees. Sculptural wood benches are the signature of the new space and these are designed to surround the trees at the edges of the plaza to not only protect them, but to offer seating in the shade of the tress. These seats are designed to promote a variety of social experiences, for individual and group seating. Freestanding chairs are also sprinkled throughout the plaza, allowing people to shape the space to their mood and group. New paving and overhead Tivoli lights add to a festive atmosphere, and the plaza has seen a resurgence of activity for the adjacent retail uses.

Client: Vornado

Alexandria, Virginia

John Carlyle Square is the four acre central public space of a 10 million square foot mixed use development built on the site of a former rail yard in the city of Alexandria, Virginia. It was designed in the classical vernacular to fit within the neo-traditional site plan and architecture of the new neighborhood. The park is host to daily use by residents, employees, and shoppers who use it as a quiet place of repose in the city, as well as a place for active recreation on a central lawn panel. This lawn panel, host to evening movies and concerts, is slightly depressed from street elevation and serves to provide infiltration for rain water. The park was designed with a number of other features of sustainable design including extensive tree canopy, a rain garden, a living roof canopy structure, porous pavers, and recycled glass pavers. The latter pays homage to a former glass factory that occupied the site in the 1800’s. In addition to the recycled pavers, pavers with high albedo are used throughout the park to reduce urban heat island effect. The primary contribution of the park to the city is in its transformation from toxic rail yard to urban oasis, a place enjoyed by people every day.

Client: Norfolk Southern Railroad

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Dalian on the Park is a mixed use project in downtown Philadelphia, across from the famed Rodin Museum. The project includes a 300 unit apartment building set atop a Whole Foods grocery and other retail storefronts . Our work included the design of the major amenity terrace for the project, a one acre rooftop garden with expansive views of the downtown skyline. The garden includes a swimming pool, party deck, and yoga lawn panel as the main amenities, all linked together by a graceful sweeping walkway. A significant part of the rooftop garden is an extensive green roof, designed to absorb rain water and to insulate the grocery store below. This expansive area lies between the amenity areas and the individual unit patios, so that each is afforded a degree of privacy. The pool features an infinity edge along its length and a pair of sunshelves that flank each side, creating the feel of a resort in the city. The party deck includes a dance floor, fire pit, and outdoor kitchen, and is sited close to the building to maximize its use year round. The bold forms of the rooftop garden lend it a graphic quality when viewed from above, but the rich palette of paving, planting, and furniture reveals a warmth and human scale when one enters the garden.

Client: MV+A Architects

Photo © MV+A Architects

Cincinnati, Ohio

International Friendship Park is a 25 acre park along the Ohio River near downtown Cincinnati. It was conceived in homage to the seven Sister Cities of Cincinnati around the world. During the charrette for the park, we conceived the idea of a park that fostered personal friendship, in addition to the recognition of Sister Cities. From that discussion, came a series of patterns that would create an environment that was conducive to making friends. The concept for engendering friendship was a pair of intertwining walkways that coursed the length of the park, in a serpentine pattern. These walks allowed for people to travel different paths, but to intersect every 100'. This provided opportunities for chance encounters between people in the park. As we looked at the pattern, we coined the paths the “friendship bracelet,” as it resembled the jewelry. Requirements for a concession building, entry plaza and international gardens were envisioned as “charms” attached to the bracelet, much as they are with the jewelry. This concept was essential to the design and funding strategy as the park was to be built in increments, as donors came forward. Thus, the bracelet became the fixed armature and the charms became the elements added over time. We created series of earthworks for seating, performances, and child play. Noteworthy among them is a Piece called “Hands in the Land” an earth sculpture of hands extended in the universal sign of assistance. Children delight in running over the mounds that form the fingers, and adults enjoy the realization of the hands from the bluffs of Eden Park adjacent to the site. A continuous seatwall follows the paths at the river's edge, creating multiple opportunities to rest, relax, and visit with friends. Along the path we created a series of gardens with plants from each major continent, so that the journey through the park captures the spirit of international friendship.

Client: Cincinnati Park Board

Reston, Virginia

One Freedom Square is a pair of office towers in the heart of Reston Town Center. The L-shaped towers are the tallest in Reston and form a space in between them that serves as a common forecourt to each. This forecourt has a central pedestrian spine that leads from this plaza between the towers to Market Street, the major retail destination. Thus, the landscape design problem was to create a space that was both destination and passage for hundreds of pedestrians who traversed the area. The forecourt is treated as a simple bosque of honey locust trees, for shade and overhead canopy. These trees are set in a grid into a ground plane of crushed brick dust, so that people can walk anywhere they choose and the tree trunks become natural columns in the landscape.

The passage bisects the forecourt and leads up to Market Street, with a 14’ grade change. We made the accessible ramp the central spine of the passage, with subordinate steps on one side and an elevated restaurant terrace on the other. In this way, the default path of travel for all, both able and disabled, is the central ramp. We marked the intersection of the passage and forecourt with a monolithic circular granite seat, sheared to let the energy of the ramp pass through it. Thus, it serves as both sculpture and seat.

With no room for trees in the passage, the ramp is covered by a series of fabric canopy sails, that create a bright and striking ceiling to the outdoor room. In this way, the most challenging aspect of the design, to overcome the grade change, becomes the signature of the place.

Client: Boston Properties

Photo © EDAW

Orlando, Florida

Celebration is a 5,000 acre new urbanist community near Orlando, Florida developed by a subsidiary of Disney on their holdings in central Florida. We provided the design for much of the common areas, parks, streetscapes, and open spaces throughout the neighborhoods. Our work included the town center, which features a lakeside promenade, fountain plaza, and festival street that forms the heart of the community. The entire development is intertwined with a comprehensive network of sidewalks and trails so that from any one point a person can walk or cycle to any other point. The pedestrian-friendly ethic extends to tree lined streets that provide a continuous canopy of shade, ample seating opportunities, and safe street crossings. The pedestrian system is marked with a number of parks, large and small, that provide opportunities for active and passive recreation. Many of these parks are placed around stands of existing trees or forests, so that the community has a strong relationship to the natural environment. Thousands of acres of wetlands were preserved as a part of the plan, and many trails traverse or adjoin these scenic areas, so that these vital habitat areas are accessible to residents.

Each neighborhood within Celebration is defined by a natural edge, wetland, or forest, so that passage from one to another is clear and distinct. The parks and open spaces are rendered in traditional landscape typologies, in keeping with the traditional architectural styles. Each park was deigned to be unique so that they become linked to place and form a subtle wayfinding service for the community. Signature elements such as fountains, pergolas, playgrounds, and boardwalks are sprinkled throughout the parks both for their utility and for iconic value. The project has earned dozens of design awards, but importantly, has become a beloved home town for thousands of residents.

Client: The Celebration Company

Louisville, Kentucky

The belvedere is a six-acre public plaza atop a parking structure and interstate highway overlooking the Ohio River in downtown Louisville. It was originally built in 1970 and was in need of a renovation in the 1990’s. Our design for the renovation sought to soften and humanize the space. The plan featured a series of outdoor rooms that were separated by trellises or walls to facilitate a phased implementation. The main room features a 14’ tall waterwall that diminishes the noise of the highway and provides a delightful place for children to cool off on a hot summer day. At its base is a generous lawn panel that is the site of concerts, picnics, and festivals. Flanking the lawn are steel trellises that offer shade and places for vendor carts to set up during events.

The entire plaza was re-paved with a warm color concrete paver and a variety of planters were added to provide places for trees, shrubs, and groundcovers to flourish. The part of the project over the interstate highway could not support the weight of planters, so is a large expanse of pavers. We created a colossal paver “map” of the Ohio River on this area, both to break down the scale of the plaza, but also to act as a wayfinding tool that would lead visitors to the stairs and elevators down to the river. Children of all ages walk along this paver “river” and discover the engravings of names of the major cities of the Ohio River from Cairo, Illinois to Pittsburgh, creating a fun and educational journey.

Client: Downtown Development Authority

Louisville, Kentucky

The Muhammad Ali Center is a four acre site in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, that houses a museum, learning center, and public plaza. We designed the public plaza in a collaboration with artist Athena Tacha. The center celebrates the life and works of the boxing legend and humanitarian and the plaza is designed as a narrative of his life journey. The two level plaza, atop a parking structure, included a grade change of 14’ between levels and this became a driver of the landscape solution. The central feature of the landscape is a fountain element that acts as a metaphor for Muhammad’s life, from placid childhood to turbulent times in his young manhood to revered champion and humanitarian in his senior years. Starting on the upper level, a small pool and waterwall creates an intimate setting for small groups of visitors and reflects his childhood in a very ordered symmetrical form. The grade change from upper level to lower level is designed as a series of seating terraces with a fountain runnel carved into the topography. This creates a linear series of rapids, symbolizing his turbulent twenties when he converted to Islam, declined to be drafted into the U.S. Army, and was jailed for a period. At the base of the seating terraces in the center of the plaza is a twelve star fountain of cast glass; a jewel of light and color that symbolizes his ascent to greatness upon his re – entry into freedom. The plaza is the scene for small gatherings of visitors and school children and is often used for small performances as well. It also is an iconic landscape in the city that matches the iconic character of the building by architects Beyer Blinder Belle.

Client: Louisville Downtown Development Corporation

Cambridge, MD

Cannery Park is a nine acre park conceived as part of the City of Cambridge’s Comprehensive Plan. The site is part of a revitalization plan that includes the adaptive reuse of the Packing House, a former cannery for Philips Packing Company, one of the largest employers in the history of Cambridge, Maryland. The building is the cultural icon for the city of Cambridge.

The project is a joint effort of the City of Cambridge, Dorchester County and the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) (the design team) and works in association with the Cross Street Partners as developers of the Packing House. The Packing House is a 60,000 square foot historic building, that will become an active, mixed-use development designed to support the emerging industries related to the Eastern Shore’s famed farming and fisheries. As such, it will become a destination for residents and tourists alike. The park is envisioned as a recreational resource that will provide open space for events, gathering, and performances that are an extension of the programming of the Packing House. In that manner, the park and the Packing House enjoy a symbiotic relationship and should be mutually supportive, with each contributing to the success of the other. The park has three components to it: a bicycle trail on the alignment of a former railroad spur; the restoration of the headwaters of Cambridge Creek and the harbor; and a central park space in between the two.

The headwaters of Cambridge Creek restoration project lie on the west side of the overall park acreage and is designed, funded and under construction. The bicycle trail lies adjacent to the Packing house within a 66’ easement and has been planned, but is not yet funded or under construction. It is the goal of the design team to have the park space in between the bicycle trail and stream become a unifying landscape that includes both projects in a seamless composition, functioning as one composite park at its completion.

In January 2018, the design team selected Parker Rodriguez of Alexandria, Virginia, as landscape architects for the park. Biohabitats of Baltimore is the designer of the stream restoration project and Lane Engineering, LLC is the engineer for the design of the trail project.

Client: Eastern Shore Land Conservancy