Landscape architecture, van Sweden said in an interview with Washingtonian magazine, is “not just about plants,”[1] it’s also about lighting, paving, drainage, grading, and much more. Here he was speaking specifically about his work on the World War II Memorial commission, but the complexities of creating public parks on landfills, gardens, and plazas over parking garages and in other challenging environments are often little understood. Moreover, unlike residential commissions, civic and commercial projects often have numerous constituencies with distinct agendas requiring the designer to synthesize aesthetic, programmatic, and didactic concerns.
Over the decades the firm has worked on commercial shopping centers, public parks, memorials, embassies, mixed-use developments, and other projects. Some are completely new designs, while others need to be sympathetic with an existing design or must honor a larger context (such as the National Mall).
