Being the Change
“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” – The Philosophy of Andy Warhol A new generation of young adults would agree, according to the NPR’s series on the...
View ArticleLandscape Architecture Magazine –“A Feast of Ideas”
We were recently in LAM in an article titled ‘A Feast of Ideas’ that questioned how “landscape architecture and the food supply fit together”. This is an excerpt of the published piece: “A recent study...
View ArticleASLA 2012 Professional Award for Agriculture Plan
SWA San Francisco received an Honor Award in the Planning and Analysis Category for ‘Nanhu: Farm Town in the Big City’. An integrated master plan that considers agriculture, villages, waterways and...
View ArticleLands End: A Cultural Landscape in Evolution
San Francisco is known for its spectacular scenery and proximity to some of the country’s most beautiful recreational areas. One of the city’s secret gems is located along its rocky northwestern edge...
View ArticleDominguez Enhancement & Engagement Project (The DEEP)
This month, a pro-bono project that our Los Angeles office has championed for more than three years of community effort, fundraising, permitting, city process and construction hurdles, ended with a...
View ArticleGiving Pedestrians A Little Respect: Traffic Calming
Traffic calming can give pedestrians a leg up in the car-centric city – and driving should be actively discouraged. This is part of a series about the importance of small urban elements that can have...
View ArticleFuture Infrastructures: Katy Trail
The Katy Trail is a recent Rails-to-Trails project transforming an abandoned rail corridor into a hugely popular pedestrian-bicycle corridor linking over 20 neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas. As a...
View ArticleBuilding Resilience
I am intrigued by the human resilience angle in the case for better urban design implied by Eric Klinenberg in his article in the New Yorker. In the article ‘Adaptation: How can cities be...
View ArticleGiving Away Free Trees
Apple, Peach, Apricot, Plum and Nectarine! On Saturday, January 26th, we had the opportunity to participate in a Fruit Tree give-away with TreePeople and the Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI) in...
View ArticleRecognizing the Designers Behind the Golden Gate Parks
San Francisco is a fantastic place to be a dad, a cyclist, and a designer and an advocate for landscapes. Our vibrant and tightly-packed North Beach neighborhood is offset by the not-too-far-away wide...
View ArticleWhen Infrastructure Isn’t Just Black And White: Imagining Better Alternatives...
What if the Keystone XL Pipeline project wasn’t a black-or-white issue? In our Houston office, we’ve been hearing a lot about both sides of the Pipeline debate—and after several in-office conversations...
View ArticleWe’re joining the 1% program!
Over the past year, a group of designers from all of our offices have been slowly building up a formal library of all of our various pro-bono projects we’ve been a part of over the years. While doing...
View ArticleNETWORK and NATURE: Creating Community Green Spaces within Los Angeles
Created by of the founders of GOOD, the Goldhirsh Foundation supports innovators through grants whose ideas can shape and change the world. This year the Goldhirsh Foundation is tackling a new...
View ArticleCanoes and Views in Buffalo Bayou
On March 16, 2013, my boyfriend Eric and I embarked on an unusual Saturday morning. We’re a moderately active couple, but we’re full of athletic ambition, so we signed up for the Buffalo Bayou Regatta...
View ArticleProtecting Our Coasts and Cities: Why We Need To Develop Long-Term, Resilient...
Long after the media stops talking about the damage done from hurricanes like Sandy, Ike, and Katrina, in each of our communities, we are left with the task of rebuilding our coastlines and cities to...
View ArticleDesigning in the Public Interest: Six Ways We Get Better With Pro Bono Work
Designing in the public interest is often challenging–and controversial. How do you know when to do public interest work and when pro-bono efforts are going towards greater good? In our office with the...
View ArticleCorporate Campus 3.0: Understanding Cultural Urbanism and Landscape Urbanism
What is the future of the corporate campus? As designers work with the next generation of real estate leaders, I had a chance to write about the changes happening in the design world and what...
View ArticleBehind the Scenes: Designing Jackson Hill Bridge, The Next Pedestrian Bridge...
What does it take to create a new link within an existing community? For our Houston designers, they have been hard at work for more than the past decade in creating a city-wide green system of Bayous...
View ArticleReturning Streets to People: 5 Tips for Going Car-Free
Cities today are mostly car-centric landscapes. Sidewalks place pedestrians directly beside exhaust-spewing vehicles with little to no buffer. High-speed thoroughfares or highways often dissect...
View ArticlePublic Space in the Office
Public Space is a place for community as well as a topic for discourse between designers and patrons. This duality may be seen in our most recent entrance wall installation, a parametric sculpture...
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