February 26, 2020 - Jennifer Guthrie delivered the Charles H. Burger Landscape Architecture Lecture at North Carolina State University. The lecture, entitled "20 + 20", reflected on the practice and work of GGN over the past twenty years, and looked to what the next twenty years will bring. Projects discussed included the Lurie Garden and India Basin Shoreline Park.
A recording of the lecture in its entirety can be viewed online here.
Read MoreFebruary 21, 2020 - Shannon Nichol was invited to take part in Harvard’s Graduate School of Design’s Spring 2020 elective seminar, Landscape Practices, which featured lectures by a range of landscape architecture practitioners working at various scales and stages of their careers.
Led by Chris Reed, “the seminar will shed light upon the ways in which a diverse array of practitioners and designers have both conceptualized what they do—the nature of and ideas behind their work—and operationalized it in terms of how they do it—the mechanisms, structures, and strategies that put their ideas into play.“
Read MoreFebruary 2, 2020 - GGN: Landscapes 1999-2018, authored by Dr. Thaisa Way and published by Timber Press, was featured on the New Books in Architecture podcast, which showcases interviews with scholars of architecture about their new books and seeks to raise the level of public discourse by introducing scholars and other serious writers to a wide public via new media. Thaisa Way and GGN Principals Shannon Nichol, Jennifer Guthrie, and Rodrigo Abela were interviewed by host Tricia Keffer.
GGN: Landscapes 1999-2018 is the first book devoted to GGN’s work. Dr. Way surveys several of our projects with an eye towards addressing practical design questions, with a foreword by Dr. Scott Stewart. Many of our favorite photographers have contributed their work, including new photos by Catherine Tighe.
A full recording of the interview can be accessed here.
Read MoreJanuary 25, 2020 - GGN Principal David Malda taught a two-session class called “Introduction to Landscape Design” at the County Living Expo and Cattlemen’s Winterschool in Skagit County, WA. The event was hosted by Hosted by Stanwood FFA and presented by the Livestock Master Foundation, WSU Skagit & Snohomish County Extension Livestock Advisor Program and the Cattlemen’s Association.
The intro class “focused on design fundamentals to help improve and design individual landscapes from the ground up. Particular emphasis will be given to: site analysis, exploring how you have used or want to use your landscape or outdoor space, and connecting your home to your outdoor living space and the surrounding environment.”
Read MoreDecember 3, 2019 - GGN was honored to participate in the planting of the first camas bulbs (Camassia quamash) at the newly installed meadow at the New Burke Museum. Tribal Elders Connie McCloud (Puyallup Tribe of Indians) and Rex Buck (Wanapum) led a planting ceremony with prayer and song, emphasizing the importance of this plant in native traditions.
Oxbow Farm’s Native Plant Program Manager, Bridget McNassa demonstrated how to plant the bulbs, which serve as a key food source for native people of the Pacific Northwest, while GGN’s Shannon Nichol encouraged an intuitive approach to planting the bulbs that would mimic their growth patterns in the wild.
We look forward to seeing the meadow thrive in seasons to come!
Read MoreNovember 13, 2019 - GGN is participating in four education sessions at the 2019 ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture in San Diego, CA, November 15-18, 2019.
On Friday, Lauren Schmidt is presenting Zero to One: Open Your Practice to the World of BIM with Xue (Phyllis) Zhou of AECOM and Aiden Ackerman of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Also on Friday, David Malda will speak on the topic of Drawing Matters: Exploring the Value of Drawing in Landscape Architecture with Michale Batts of STEWART and Kona Gray of EDSA.
On Saturday, Kathryn Gustafson will speak to Finding Design: Case Studies in the Creative Process with Walter Hood of Hood Design Studio and Susan Cohen.
On Sunday, Kara Weaver will speak about Integrating Security into Site Design: Evolving Strategies for Protecting Public Spaces with Margaret Plumb of Design Workshop and Len Hopper of Weintraub Diaz Landscape Architecture.
Read MoreNovember 13, 2019 - GGN is participating in four education sessions at the 2019 ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture in San Diego, CA, November 15-18, 2019.
On Friday, Lauren Schmidt is presenting Zero to One: Open Your Practice to the World of BIM with Xue (Phyllis) Zhou of AECOM and Aiden Ackerman of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. This workshop is addressing the challenges and solutions landscape teams face when starting to use BIM. Lessons from project cases are being shared, with broad research of how numerous landscape firms are scaling up BIM use. Participants will get hands-on practice on modeling a sample landscape project and evaluating workflow among different software.
Also on Friday, David Malda is speaking on the topic of Drawing Matters: Exploring the Value of Drawing in Landscape Architecture with Michale Batts of STEWART and Kona Gray of EDSA. Rather than the familiar debate over digital versus hand graphics, this session considers the value of drawing as a process connected to seeing, thinking, and engaging throughout design.
On Saturday, Kathryn Gustafson is speaking to Finding Design: Case Studies in the Creative Process with Walter Hood of Hood Design Studio and Susan Cohen. This session reviews ways in which an active imagination and a creative spirit fuels the design process in landscape architecture.
On Sunday, Kara Weaver is speaking about Integrating Security into Site Design: Evolving Strategies for Protecting Public Spaces with Margaret Plumb of Design Workshop and Len Hopper of Weintraub Diaz Landscape Architecture. This session examines how landscape architects are protecting urban public spaces by integrating innovative security features into a site while creating vibrant public spaces.
Read MoreNovember 11, 2019 - GGN helped to organize a volunteer event to plant 30,000 crocus corms, donated by Aedas, the project architect, at Seattle Children’s Research Institute’s new Building Cure in downtown Seattle. Each spring, the early-blooming crocus will be a symbol of hope and expanding cures for years to come.
Read MoreNovember 3, 2019 - Kathryn Gustafson delivered a lecture at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art entitled “The Sky is Mine.” Followed by an intimate wine reception with 250 guests, the lecture focused on the creative development and impact of five projects Kathryn worked on with GGN and Gustafson Porter + Bowman, respectively: the City of Paris' Site Tour Eiffel winning design just awarded in May; the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in London; the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery; the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.; and Valencia's Parque Central.
Proceeds from the event supported the Heronswood Art in the Garden fund.
Read MoreOctober 23, 2019 - Shannon Nichol delivered the second annual Adleman Lecture at Cornell University, titled “Repair Work: Drawing and Building Parts of the Landscape.” This annual memorial lecture is endowed by Michael R. Van Valkenburgh in honor of Professor Marvin I. Adleman. The lecture took place at 6:15 on October 23 at 151 Warren Hall on the Cornell campus in Ithaca, NY.
Read MoreOctober 22, 2019 - Today, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Trust for the National Mall, in partnership with the National Park Service, announced the five landscape architecture firms participating in the Tidal Basin Ideas Lab. GGN, DLANDstudio, Hood Design Studio, James Corner Field Operations, and Reed Hilderbrand are working in concert to address the challenges and opportunities facing the National Mall Tidal Basin.
"The Tidal Basin is a unique landscape with important historical and environmental significance for Washington, DC,” said Kathryn Gustafson. “How we approach, think, and act on the Tidal Basin will be a great learning process that will evolve. The Idea Lab is timely, as similar challenges to important historic sites need to be addressed in many other places around the world."
Read MoreOctober 22, 2019 - Today, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Trust for the National Mall, in partnership with the National Park Service, announced the five landscape architecture firms participating in the Tidal Basin Ideas Lab. GGN, DLANDstudio, Hood Design Studio, James Corner Field Operations, and Reed Hilderbrand are working in concert to address the challenges and opportunities facing the National Mall Tidal Basin.
"The Tidal Basin is a unique landscape with important historical and environmental significance for Washington, DC,” said Kathryn Gustafson. “How we approach, think, and act on the Tidal Basin will be a great learning process that will evolve. The Idea Lab is timely, as similar challenges to important historic sites need to be addressed in many other places around the world."
Unlike a Design Competition, which typically selects a winner with a conclusive master plan, the Ideas Lab is a platform for the exchange of approaches and solutions between designers, stakeholders, and the public. Concepts will be provocative and challenging, presenting cultural landscape opportunities in a new light, in order to take on fundamental issues in a comprehensive and respectful way. Results of the Ideas Lab will be on view at a curated exhibition in Washington, D.C. in spring 2020 and available widely online. The results will showcase creative collaboration and design opportunities relevant for the Tidal Basin today and for generations to come.
The forum is presented by American Express, with Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) serving as civic partner to the initiative.
More information is available on the Save the Tidal Basin [Ideas Lab] website.
Read MoreOctober 21, 2019 - Kathryn Gustafson delivered the Alan H Rider Distinguished Lecture at Carnegie Mellon University on October 21. Her lecture, titled “Designing in Paris, Valencia, Hong Kong & Hazelwood,” addressed the complexities of designing on sites with vastly different challenges: overwhelming tourism, invasive infrastructures, and industrial migrations, and discussed past projects including including the landscape design of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in DC and the public plaza of Hazelwood Green in Pittsburgh.
Read MoreOctober 3, 2019 - GGN is busy working on many exciting projects, and we are seeking people with a passion for design, problem solving, and discovery to join us. We are especially interested in individuals with a strong background in leading/strategizing technical document sets.
Find more information about how to apply at ggnltd.com/jobs.
Read MoreOctober 2, 2019 - Yesterday the American Society of Landscape Architecture announced that GGN’s Lower Rainier Vista & Pedestrian Land Bridge has received a National ASLA Professional Honor Award in General Design. The awards presentation ceremony will take place during the ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture, to be held this November in San Diego, California.
The Lower Rainier Vista project at the University of Washington extends and completes the Olmsted Brothers’ historic vision for a monumental campus axis within the intersection of many transportation modes. The design references Collegiate Gothic forms and uses fine-tuned grading of the Vista to frame views, integrate modern infrastructure, and provide new ADA connections. A new land bridge facilitates multimodal integration of pedestrians, cyclists, buses, and automobiles between the new light rail station at Husky Stadium, the University of Washington Medical Center, and the University campus heart. KPFF was the structural and civil engineer on the project.
Founded in 1899, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is the professional association for landscape architects in the United States, representing nearly 15,000 members. The Society’s mission is to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship.
Read MoreSeptember, 18, 2019 - Yesterday the International Federation of Landscape Architect's President, James Hayter, announced at the 2019 World Congress in Oslo, Norway, that Landscape Architect Kathryn Gustafson has been selected as the winner of the 2019 Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award. This award is the highest honour that the International Federation of Landscape Architects can bestow to a landscape architect.
In her acceptance speech, Kathryn said, "The sky is ours - everything under - take good care of it."
The award recognizes a living landscape architect whose lifetime achievements and contributions have had a unique and lasting impact on the welfare of society and the environment and on the promotion of the profession of landscape architecture. The award is bestowed annually on an academic public or private practitioner whose work and achievements are respected internationally.
Read MoreAugust 9, 2019 - GGN is hiring in both of our locations, Seattle and Washington, DC, for a full range of experience levels. Come join our diverse group of passionate, creative, and committed designers, who bring a wide array of personal and working paths into the profession, while sharing humble curiosity and a love for challenging technical and practical puzzles.
Find more information about how to apply at ggnltd.com/jobs.
Read MoreAugust 29, 2019 - The construction of the Hazelwood Green Plaza is underway. A two-acre space south of the historic Mill 19 building, the Plaza is the first outdoor public space and civic heart of the 178-acre riverfront development.
“There will be something for each person to delight in: from bugs and butterflies in the pollinator gardens, to flexible spaces for impromptu play or planned events, to water elements to dip one’s toes, to shady seating areas for quiet conversation. A slice of the past and a bright future will fuse together in this unique place,” said Kathryn Gustafson.
The rendering of the Grove is by Laurel Li. The water feature is framed by shaded, intimately-scaled greens, where users are invited to pause, socialize, and relax amidst lush plantings and the calming sounds of water.
Read the full press release on the Hazelwood Green website.
Read MoreJune 12, 2019 - This Sunday, Jennifer Guthrie and Bernie Alonzo will help lead the afternoon portion of the University of Washington campus walking tour that is taking place during the Society of College and University Planning (SCUP) 2019 Conference in Seattle, WA. The sold-out tour led by Kristine Kenney, University Landscape Architect and Director of Campus Design and Planning, is highlighting recent projects that enhance the campus’ character during a period of rapid growth for the University of Washington. The featured GGN projects are West Campus Residences & Streetscape, Mercer Court & UW Farm, Life Sciences Building, and Lower Rainier Vista & Pedestrian Land Bridge.
With UW Arborist Jaclynn Eckhardt; Caitlyn Clauson, Chair of Interdisciplinary Initiatives at Sasaki; and Romil Sheth, Principal at Sasaki.
Read MoreJune 10, 2019 - This past weekend, GGN and Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center hosted a discussion about Pacific Northwest Natives with the Seattle-area landscape architecture community. Oxbow has been an important partner by providing research-backed advice, rare inventory, and particularly high-quality plants that finally showcase the beauty of our native plants to a broader audience. They are also working hard to produce information that can be used by other nurseries when attempting to propagate, package, and market Pacific Northwest Natives in ways that minimize the environmental impacts associated with the conventional nursery industry. The discussion, which took place in the Native Plant Nursery, was led by Oxbow Executive Director Lisa Pawlek Jaguzny, Oxbow Native Plant Manager Bridget McNassar, and GGN Founding Principal Shannon Nichol.
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