GUSTAFSON GUTHRIE NICHOL

National Mall Competition
Union Square

"Our design for a durable and flexible plaza will bring life and activity to the site and will take the pressure from the mall's lawn panels, making it a more sustainable landscape."
- Rodrigo Abela, Principal

This winning design for Union Square, situated at the base of the Capitol in Washington DC, engages visitors with an impressive monumental scale, while also providing comfortable places for a range of experiences and voices.

University of Washington Lower Rainier Vista

The Rainier Vista axis is a central component of the University of Washington’s historic campus layout. The Vista was first conceived by the Olmsted Brothers as the central axis for the Alaska Yukon Exposition in the early 1900s, framing a grand view of Mount Rainier. GGN's new design of Lower Rainier Vista extends, clarifies, and finally completes the Vista, reconnecting the isolated Montlake Triangle to the whole of the UW campus.

University of Washington Mercer Court and UW Farm

Mercer Court was designed around the premise of creating a new model of housing for the University of Washington, one that focuses on building a strong community for both students and the general public. Located in the University of Washington’s West Campus neighborhood, Mercer Court is situated on 4.5 acres with a capacity for 900+ students.

Vancouver Community Connector

GGN's winning proposal for the Vancouver Community Connector reconnects a severed downtown core that was divided by the I-5 freeway. The design laces multiple, street-scale connections across a landbridge structure that is designed -- in collaboration with Allied Works and Arup -- like a honeycomb, to treat and hold stormwater through filters of native plants and deep soils. The landscape "regrounds" the historic Fort buildings and surrounding city in the native landscape and "wet prairie" ecology of Fort Vancouver.

Photo: Timothy Hursley

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Campus

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation campus is designed as a locally grounded environment for global work and dialogue. In concert with the campus architecture by NBBJ, GGN designed a campus landscape for outdoor work and collaborative problem-solving. A series of serene spaces celebrate the Foundation's roots in Seattle, with a growing forest canopy, rainwater-fed water gardens, courtyards of salvaged cobble, and extensive green roofs.

Phase One of the campus was completed and certified LEED NC 2.2 Platinum in 2011.

National Museum of African
American History & Culture

The landscape design for the National Museum of African American History and Culture situates the NMAAHC within the context of the Washington Monument Grounds as an object in a field, drawing the open, pastoral nature of the Washington Monument grounds through the Museum site.

Nashville Centennial Park
Master Plan

GGN led a multi-disciplinary planning team to formulate the long-range plan for Nashville's central park -- Centennial Park. GGN's master plan acknowledges past and future simultaneously, respecting the important tradition of Centennial Park while transforming the park into an active place for future generations; a model of sustainable ecological practice; and a destination experience of Nashville's horticultural excellence.

Towards Paradise
Venice Biennale: Out There

Towards Paradise was the first significant installation of landscape as part of the Venice Architecture Biennale. The installation was conceived as a contemporary allegory in the broadest sense - taking the visitor on a journey through earthly dilemmas, evoking what has been lost and what can be gained between man and the landscape.

University of Washington
School of Medicine Phase 3

Phase 3 of the UW School of Medicine Campus maintains the vision established by Phase 2, by proposing a design that will meet the programmatic needs of a biomedical facility, reflect the goals and identity of UW School of Medicine, bridge strong connections between the neighborhood and campus communities, and provide friendly and green pedestrian streets.

Green Roof and
Streetscape at 5th Ave. N.

This project enabled the conversion of a city-owned, 12-acre parking lot into a dense urban development. 10 acres were made available for the new Gates Foundation campus (also designed by NBBJ/GGN) by concentrating Seattle Center's visitor parking in this mixed-use garage that is entirely covered in a nearly 2-acre green roof while hosting a new coffee shop and Visitor's Center along the street.

Theater Commons
at Seattle Center

Sustainable Sites Initiative Pilot Project

This project redefines a key entry into the Seattle Center campus while treating stormwater. A wide expanse of asphalt is replaced with a treelined, cobbled walking street.

UrbanEdge
for Landscape Forms

"The UrbanEdge family of framing and seating elements is designed to be flexible, customizable, and comfortable, like an outdoor living room."
- Stacy Vayanos, Associate

The UrbanEdge collection is produced by Landscape Forms, the world’s largest manufacturer of high-design site and streetscape furniture collections. UrbanEdge pairs GGN’s experience in designing urban spaces with Landscape Forms’ expertise in developing beautiful site furnishings that address issues in urban environments; built to perform and endure under conditions of high-usage.

Explore the collection at Landscape Forms.

Island Residence

Situated on a bluff overlooking Puget Sound, this one acre garden emulates the native landform and interprets Northwest plants in conceptual bands of color and texture.

Voelcker Park
Competition

Five design teams were invited to develop designs for Voelcker Park, a new 300-acre park north of downtown San Antonio. GGN’s competition entry envisioned a Great Meadow uniting the two halves of the site and creating the opportunity for the entire park to be connected to the Salado Creek Greenway.

University of Washington Husky Union Building Landscape Renovation

The scope of this project includes landscape improvements associated with the renovation of the 1949 Husky Union Building (HUB) at the heart of the University of Washington campus. The landscape design will work in conjunction with architectural renovations to provide stronger connections between interior and exterior spaces, as well as to improve wayfinding and orientation in the building and on campus.

CityCenterDC

“This project is going to be a true city center - our downtown retail anchor - befitting a world class city.”
- Mayor Adrian M. Fenty

CityCenterDC is a 10-acre site in the heart of downtown Washington DC, developed by Hines/Archstone with architecture led by Foster + Partners. CityCenterDC converts former superblocks into a mixed-use urban center with a fine-grained network of streets and alleys, plazas, a park, and multiple landscaped terraces.

CityCenterDC is now under construction.

Seattle Sheraton
Garden Walk

A pre-existing structural wall presented a block-long, blank concrete facade. GGN's design response was to "borrow" key pedestrian assets from across the street and to playfully simulate a traditionally two-sided street. A series of massive mirror panels -- emulating vertical, historic architectural bays in scale and proportion -- are strategically placed to present the illusion of rich historic facades on the face of the simple concrete wall. The width of the panels subtly offers the familiar module of storefront windows to passing pedestrians. The mirrors also "double" the apparent pedestrian activity on the treated side of the street.

Robert and Arlene
Kogod Courtyard

The Donald W. Reynolds Center home of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery is a National Historic Landmark Building in Washington, DC. This award-winning project was a collaboration with Foster + Partners.

Donald W. Reynolds Center
The Smithsonian Institution

The exterior landscape design for the historic former Patent Office Building, now home to the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, consists of two primary components: restoring the historic landscape and integrating modern perimeter security requirements.

Green Roof
Evaluation Project

The Green Roof Evaluation Project (G.R.E.P.) was originally conceived of by local engineers Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA) as a means of quantifying the value of green roof systems in retaining stormwater. The study was composed of 5 green roof test plots at different locations within the city of Seattle. GGN was involved with the project as both an observer and consultant on plant health and selection.

Watermark Credit Union

This project was part of a larger renovation of the historic Roffe building in downtown Seattle to accommodate the new corporate headquarters of the Watermark Credit Union.

Charlie Table
for Landscape Forms

Landscape Forms, North America’s largest manufacturer of site furniture, announces the Maggie Bench and Charlie Table, designs from Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN).

Originally designed by GGN for Chicago’s Millennium Park, the Charlie Table re-imagines the traditional picnic table as a fluid and ergonomic piece of furniture. Charlie's open ends provide integrated wheelchair access. Click here for more information about Charlie.

Maggie Bench
for Landscape Forms

Landscape Forms, North America’s largest manufacturer of site furniture, announces the Maggie Bench and Charlie Table, designs from Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN).

Originally designed by GGN for Chicago’s Millennium Park, the Maggie Bench expresses the form and gesture of the human body with a light stance and a minimum use of materials. Click here for more information about Maggie.

Fire Station 10 and
Emergency Operation Center

"A sophisticated response to a complex set of needs that integrates architecture, landscape architecture and art."
- Seattle Design Commission

Washington Canal Park

"The park design brilliantly evokes the fascinating past of the Canal blocks and reveals a dynamic future. It creates a new public gathering place which will be truly welcoming and inspiring to all - neighborhood residents, workers in surrounding buildings, and visitors to this vibrant re-emerging Southeast neighborhood on the Anacostia."
- Ken Greenberg, Jury Member

University of Washington
School of Medicine Phase 2

Situated on the north edge of downtown Seattle, the design strives to create a strong sense of identity for the UW School of Medicine campus while responding to the unique programming needs of a biotech research facility. The integrated landscape components promote a cohesive site experience as one moves through the indoor-outdoor spaces.

East River Walk

The context of the East River Walk is part of a larger system planned to connect Manhattan’s waterfront and make it accessible to the public. However, the location of this particular segment creates a unique opportunity. The backdrop of the raised UN campus, as opposed to the FDR back lit by the grid of Manhattan, makes the river feel more prominent and powerful.

North End Parks

The "Big Dig" burial of the I-93 Freeway beneath Boston created a swath of reclaimed land through downtown. The North End Parks, a 3-acre series of parcels on the tunnel lid, created a welcoming social space at the threshold to the North End neighborhood.

The Parks, GGN's collaboration with CSS Boston, opened views and restored street connections that had been severed for decades.

Corixa Headquarters

In downtown Seattle, two small rooftop terraces are designed as sweeping, outdoor extensions of the ninth-floor social spaces of Corixa, a leading-edge bio-tech firm.

William K. Nakamura
U.S. Courthouse

The landscape is both a formal presentation of open space at the foot of the Courthouse and a threshold between the civic nature of the sidewalk and the protected court spaces within the federal building.

Mount Tabor Park

The cycles of water with the interdependence of living creatures are played out in the park lands of Mt. Tabor. The park is a direct link between natural elements and the vibrant City.

Penne-Mirabeau Freeway Exchange

2003, Kathryn Gustafson (prior to the founding of GGN)

The key purposes of this 9-acre site, travel and traffic, are visually dramatized into a regional gateway. The interchange of two major roadways and the character of their two directions are expressed in two large movements of land.

EDF Pylons

2002, Kathryn Gustafson (prior to the founding of GGN)

The competition-winning design of these high-tension pylons was inspired by a heron taking flight into the sky.

Grant Park Garden Overlay

The Grant Park Garden Overlay utilizes the Grant Park Framework Plan to develop the next level of design guidelines by defining a range of landscape opportunities within the park and by recommending locations for landscape installations and pedestrian spaces.

Lakeshore Residence

This residential landscape is designed as a series of concentric spaces that unfold from the intimate center of the home. Subtle level changes, thresholds, and sculpted hedges extend organic architectural forms into the landscape.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

This is a multi-phased project that will enhance Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. From a master plan of the entire campus to site design of new entries, gardens, access roads, and interior courtyards, the design enhances the ways in which present and future generations will interact with the Museum.

Pritzker Garden at the
Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago’s new Modern Wing, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, includes streetscapes and a new courtyard.

Revelatory Landscapes:
Wind, Sound & Movement

2001, Kathryn Gustafson (prior to the founding of GGN)

Wind can be experienced sensorially but is visible only when it causes an object to move. Revelatory Landscapes, an installation for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, reveals the shape of the wind as it moves across the contour of the landscape.

Lurie Garden

Part of Millennium Park, the Lurie Garden brings the experience and ecology of Chicago’s native prairie landscape into its densest downtown neighborhood – while providing spaces for resting, socializing, and a myriad of cultural activities. Over 4 million visitors per year from 21 countries visited the Lurie Garden in 2008.

Seattle Center Theater District

This Master Plan redevelops eight blocks of performance and entertainment venues, on the north edge of Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair.

Ross Terrace at the
American Museum of Natural History

2000, Kathryn Gustafson (prior to the founding of GGN)

"The elegant Terrace is an artful artificial landscape where children of all ages can come and engage with others or dream alone."
- Allen Freeman, Landscape Architecture Magazine

Seattle City Hall

Completion of Phase Two of the Seattle Civic Center campus marks a significant increase in the amount of open space in Seattle’s government district.

Seattle Civic Center
Master Plan

This civic campus design encompasses three city blocks on a steep slope in downtown Seattle. A variety of plaza types and scales are carved into the Seattle hillside and visually connected by water, stone, glass and light.

Seattle Justice Center

"This is landscape that makes a city. It sets up an interplay of buildings, street, and plaza elements that will help to make this part of the city into a strange and poetic whole."
-- WASLA Jury, 2003

Kreielsheimer Promenade
at McCaw Hall

"... This public plaza blurs the boundaries between landscape, architecture, and theater. It was difficult to tell where each discipline's scope of work began and ended. ... This successful collaboration resulted in a public space that is exciting, flexible, well conceived, and well detailed."
- WASLA Awards Jury, 2003

South Coast Plaza
Pedestrian Bridge & Garden

2000, Kathryn Gustafson (prior to the founding of GGN)

"Beautifully conceived and detailed. ... The landscaping across the top of a roadway is powerful and unique."
- AIACC Awards Jury, 2001