our services
Sustainability
Our focus is to help clients achieve “green building” or “high performance development” standards that are associated with site and landscape. With early involvement in a project, we can assist to deliver cost-effective solutions.
Sustainable design in the public domain and in new development supports resilient cities and community. Various approaches are available to achieve specific measures such as energy efficiency, water conservation, carbon reduction, protection and restoration of habitat, soil management, tree planting, plant species selection, exterior lighting, bird-safe design, green roofs, reduction of the heat island effect through planting and “cool” paving, waste storage, electric vehicle parking, and bicycle parking.
Sustainable design and development standards are becoming the baseline for both new and rehabilitation projects – Toronto adopted its Green Standard in 2008 (beginning as a voluntary standard), and in the same year California adopted its state Green Building Code. Other jurisdictions have followed these leaders.
Landscape
We have the capacity to provide landscape architectural services for the projects that we support.
Our project experience includes multi-family residential development, private homes (gardens), campuses (academic and corporate), institutions, government public works, urban, provincial, and national parks, playgrounds, multi-use trails, sport venues, landscape restoration, ponds and fountains, and transportation systems.
We have worked directly with architects and engineers and understand how landscape requirements appear in the context of building, transportation, and other types of projects, and how to support our professional partners to help them meet the requirements of their clients. We have worked directly with planners and recognize how to respond to regulation in order to achieve City vision and goals. We have worked directly with community narrative specialists, artists, and biologists and appreciate the important perspectives they may bring, to shape and enhance a project.
Design
Collaboration is at the heart of our practice. We are team players. We appreciate dialogue among the different viewpoints in a project, so that client vision and requirements will be met while also responding to other stakeholders – as well as listening for the voices that sometimes cannot be loudly heard.
We look for the physical character of the site and its natural processes. We look for the cultural heritage of the site. We look for the actual use of the site, for the community, and for the activities of future users, so that the developed site can support – become the “container” or field of dreams for – their future lives in that place.
The experience that we can bring to each project includes: Identify a strategy including both design and construction measures to achieve sustainability for the project; predesign – site layout, discovery of applicable regulation, site inventory, realizing the client’s vision and site programming; the design phases – and in design development we confirm the layout, select materials and finishes, and prepare horticultural design; preparation of cost evaluations and scheduling projections at appropriate steps of the design process; working with regulatory authorities; and working with the contractors.
Get in touch! Contactez-nous!
At any stage of your project, we are happy to discuss your needs.
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