News

February 27, 2016 - The San Francisco Recreation & Park Department and the Trust for Public Land, in partnership with San Francisco Parks Alliance, announced today the winner of a design ideas competition, to draw up the plans for the India Basin Waterfront Parks. The competition, sponsored by a generous donation from Build Inc., called for proposals to reimagine the India Basin waterfront as a spectacular and seamless 1.5-mile-long network of public parks on the City’s southeast shoreline.  

“We are honored to be entrusted to work with India Basin's neighbors and visitors, to enhance the things that people already treasure about this gem of a site,” said Shannon Nichol, founding principal of GGN. “India Basin includes a rare expanse of original tideflats and preserved boatyard architecture. Our approach to the competition further softened the shoreline, added walking routes across Innes Avenue between the water and the neighborhood, and sized the park's spaces for everyday activities. We look forward to working with the community to test and hone that initial approach with the full input of neighbors and the people who will be using this park every day.”

The GGN competition team includes Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA), civil engineer specializing in water resource strategies; Rana Creek, ecological restoration designer; Greenlee and Associates, horticulturalist specializing in meadow design; Turnbull Griffin Haesloop Architects, historic preservation architects; and Alta Planning + Design, transportation planners. 

Lizzie Johnson reported on this story in today's San Francisco Chronicle. 

Update: J. Michael Welton of Architects + Artisans published an article on March 1 titled “ In San Francisco, GGN’s Light Touch .” On March 16, Jason Sayer of the Architect's Newspaper wrote Gustafson Guthrie Nichol to Design San Francisco Shoreline Parks at the India Basin Waterfront.

February 3, 2016 -The India Basin Design Ideas Competition boards have been posted to the competition website. The GGN team – which includes Rana Creek, Greenlee & Associates, Turnbull Griffin Haesloop, Alta Planning & Design, and Magnusson Klemenicic & Associates – is pleased to be one of five finalists, along with AECOM, Surfacedesign, Inc, SWA and Stanley Saitowitz/Natoma Architects, and Tom Leader Studio. 

December 8, 2015 - Peter Miller and Suyama Space are hosting a celebration and book signing on Tuesday, December 8 from 5:30-7:00pm. The very first copies of the a+u special edition Expressions of Landscape, Kathryn Gustafson are being shipped from the printer in Japan to arrive for the event. Thaisa Way, herself a noted landscape author and professor at the University of Washington, has written the text and will be joining us. The introduction is by Toshiko Mori, architect and professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Kathryn will be on hand to sign these very first copies – it will be the first look for everyone at this extraordinary new publication.

November 20, 2015 - Yesterday Sara Zewde presented her design for the Circuit of African Heritage in downtown Rio de Janeiro at Studio X Rio. She began this project as a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and she continues to work in partnership with IRPH Instituto Rio Patrimônio da Humanidade (Rio World Heritage Institute) and Washington Fajardo. NextCity's extensive article and interview with Sara is available here

November 20, 2015 - Jennifer Guthrie has been named President-Elect of the Landscape Architecture Foundation.

“We are delighted to have Jennifer in this critical leadership role at such a historic time, as LAF moves into its 50th anniversary and the launch of several major initiatives,” said LAF Executive Director Barbara Deutsch. "Jennifer’s experience, energy and business savvy will be invaluable as we scale up to make a greater impact.”

More information is available on the LAF News Blog.

November 18, 2015 - "Sometimes there's magic when everyone's blank slate happens at the same time and you're working together to craft a story about the land," said Shannon Nichol during last night’s event at Town Hall Seattle. The panel discussion, “Defining Trends in Landscape Architecture,” featured Kevin Kudo-King of Olson Kundig, Sandy Fischer of Land Morphology, Randy Allworth of Allworth Design, Shannon Nichol of GGN, and Richard Hartlage of Land Morphology (shown left to right above).

The event highlighted the launch of Richard’s and Sandy’s new book The Authentic Garden published by the Monacelli Press. 

November 17, 2015 - In anticipation of the grand opening next fall, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture hosted a kick-off event last night. The GGN design team of Chihiro Shinohara Donovan, Jill Fortuna, Kathryn Gustafson, and Rodrigo Abela joined in the celebration.

“The National Museum of African American History and Culture shone a light Monday on a major milestone — the completion of exterior construction — by lighting up the museum itself,” reported Lavanya Ramanathan for today’s Washington Post. 

November 9, 2015 - Gustafson Guthrie Nichol participated in several panels and special events at the ASLA 2015 Annual Meeting and Expo in Chicago, IL.

Shannon Nichol served on the ASLA Annual Meeting Education Advisory Committee, and she was also a panelist on “The Devil is in the Details: Documenting and Delivering a Legacy Project.” Bernie Alonzo moderated “Sustainable Water Systems at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” and he was a panelist on “A Varied Palette: Design and Function of Natural Water Features.” Jennifer Guthrie was a panelist on a “Breaking the Mold: The Inspirational Workplace,” and Kathryn Gustafson was a panelist on “The Innovative Use of Metal and Stone in the Contemporary Landscape.”

October 24, 2015 - Renowned Seattle historian, Paul Dorpat, was interviewed by his collaborator Jean Sherrard at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Campus, designed by GGN to evoke its natural history. Today's Seattle Times / Pacific Magazine's Seattle Now & Then includes Dorpat and Sherrard's dramatic comparison of historic and new photos of this site. 

October 10, 2015 - Today Sara Zewde will present at the Black in Design conference at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. "Dedicated to the pursuit of just and equitable spaces across all scales, this conference will broach conversations in increasing orders of magnitude: the building, the neighborhood, the city, the region, and the globe." Sara's presentation will take place during the City session with Justin Garrett Moore, Liz Ogbu, and Sherri Franklin.

Update: On October 21, Petra Marar reported on the conference, quoting Sara in her article for The Dirt,Harvard’s "Black in Design” Conference: Addressing Social Injustice with Design.

September 24, 2015 - Sara Zewde asked "Who is fighting for equitable access to delight?" during her Design for Equity presentation this evening. Through examples of her design work in Freedmen’s Town, the 4th Ward neighborhood of Houston, Texas, Sara explored the challenges designers face within the discourse of equity.

The event was hosted by Pecha Kucha Seattle in partnership with Design in Public, the Northwest African American Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, the Seattle Public Library, the City of Seattle Department of Planning, Urban Land Institute Northwest, Forterra, and the Seattle Architecture Foundation. It took place at the Seattle Central Library.

September 14, 2015 - Several talented individuals have joined the staff of landscape architecture firm Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN).

Meg Herndon joined as an Associate, and Jasmine Aryana joined as a Project Manager. Michael Benson, Kristelle Boulos, Peter Malandra, Philip Syvertsen, Joan Walbert, and Sara Zewde joined GGN as Designers, with Aria Goodman joining as Graphic Designer. Mary Lange and Laurel Li joined the team as Design Interns. Caitlin Jorgensen and Adrienne Leach joined as Administrators.

Learn more about each of these individuals.

September 14, 2015 - Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN) is pleased to announce the promotion of several key team members.

Tess Schiavone was promoted to Principal. Jill Fortuna, Lynda Olson, Cass Salzwedel, and Emily Scott were promoted to Senior Associates. Annelise Aldrich, Jordan Bell, Chihiro Shinohara Donovan, Patrick Keegan, Makie Suzuki, and Yuichiro Tsutsumi were promoted to Associates. Selina Hunstiger, Bryn Kepler, Ju Liu, and Katia Rios were promoted to Designers.

Learn more about each of these individuals.

June 29, 2015 - DeepRoot has released a video featuring David Malda explaining how Gustafson Guthrie Nichol is rethinking downtown streets. The video, “The Street as the Future Opportunity – Perspectives on the Right-of-Way,” is one of several discussions developed during a recent design charrette hosted by DeepRoot and the Landscape Architecture Foundation in Seattle, WA.
 
During this short 3-minute video, David outlines GGN’s streets philosophy and inquiry. "As we're thinking about streets and trying to approach them as landscapes, we're seeing that this has got to be a broader discussion than just a narrow strip of planting... this has got to be about the whole idea of a street and how people think about cities. What do we expect from our downtown?"

The charrette was the topic of two blog posts: “Sustaining nature and natural processes in the ultra-urban environment” by Matthew Alcide of Land8 and “When ‘Parking’ Meant ‘Space for Trees’” by Michelle Richmond of DeepRoot.

June 24, 2015 - Today, Kathryn Gustafson received an honorary doctorate from the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain.

June 23, 2015 - Today the American Society for Landscape Architects (ASLA) announced that Kathryn Gustafson has been elevated to the ASLA Council of Fellows, one of the highest honors a landscape architect may receive. The new class of Fellows will be recognized at the 2015 ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO, November 6-9, in Chicago.

Today’s ASLA announcement noted that Kathryn received her nomination from the Washington Chapter. The announcement stated that Kathryn "is working throughout Europe, North America, Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Her methodology empowers others, and her design process centers on rigorous site analysis. She shapes sensually pleasing and beguilingly simple landforms as the basis of her design. Her landscapes can be dramatic or remarkably understated. She believes passionately in the importance of everyday, public spaces and their ability to foster civic responsibility.”

March 24, 2015 - Jennifer Guthrie and Shannon Nichol will present a lecture in Knowlton Hall’s Gui Auditorium at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25. The lecture is free and open to the public. Guthrie and Nichol are the Spring 2015 Glimcher Distinguished Visiting Professors at the Knowlton School. 

As part of the Knowlton School’s commitment to bringing the highest level of design thinking to its students and the community at large, the Baumer Lecture Series invites prominent researchers and practitioners of architecture, landscape architecture and city planning to present their work in a variety of areas. These lectures offer technical, cultural and theoretical understanding of the contemporary built environment and represent the contemporary and future state of the art in design thinking.

The Baumer Lecture Series is made possible from support provided by the Herbert Baumer Fund.