Mark Rios, FAIA, FASLA

Mr. Rios started his practice 20 years ago. His vision has always been to create complete environments – outside and inside – and to design all the elements that give each place its character. Rios has been honored with over 40 professional landscape architectural design awards during his career, with 15 design awards from the ASLA, including a 2006 Honor Award for the Glendale Chess Park.  His projects have been widely published in over 100 national and international books and periodicals. Landscape commissions have ranged from the design of public parks, plazas, and streets, to private gardens, furniture, and products inspired by Rio’s desire for everyone to take note of and appreciate their ecological and cultural environments.  Rio’s approach to landscape architecture is influenced by his also being a licensed architect and a holistic design methodology which combines overlapping design disciplines into a cohesive conceptual solution.  In the process, he has broadened the definition of the landscape architect's role in both the public and private realms.  His work expresses an optimistic and multicultural attitude, mining ideas and research from each specific site to inspire memorable solutions.  Rios' design curiosity and respect for the nuances in each site and its specific set of users, have produced a body of work with great range and variety, unrestricted by the boundaries of traditional professional disciplines.

Chess Park, Glendale, CA; Rios Clementi Hale Studios, landscape architects.