News

February 10, 2025 – David Malda ASLA, LEED AP is a speaker for this year’s University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design Lecture Series in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this coming Thursday, March 20.

David is presenting Making Landscapes: A Relational Practice, which will explore the potential of landscape to connect people to the land and to each other through the land. By focusing on building relationships among the people and places that already exist (and have often been damaged), David will explain how our work as landscape architects can support broader initiatives for belonging to a place, rather than simply adding another new thing.

This year’s Spring Lecture Series will begin with a talk from Kazuyo Sejima, co-founder of the Tokyo-based architectural firm SANAA. Other speakers include Jonathan Thompson, Senior Ecologies and Research Director at Harvard Forest; Junya Ishigami, Founding Architect at junya.ishigami+associates; Andrew Lee, Author of the novel Defying Displacement: Urban Recomposition and Social War; Billie Tsien, Founding Partner at Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects; and Leslie Thornton, Abstract Artist.

The Weitzman Lecture Series invites architects, artists, preservationists, and planners to share their unique insights and experiences with eager students. This lecture series will focus on a variety of topics that focus on tackling generational challenges and opportunities, ranging from the planning that went into the design makeover of The Art Institute of Chicago to the lessons that can be learned about climate action coexistence from studying the Amazon.

Admission is free and open to the public; advance registration is required for some events. Unless noted otherwise, lectures take place at Meyerson Hall, 210 South 34th Street, Philadelphia.

Learn more about the Weitzman School of Design Lecture Series

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February 10 – David Malda, ASLA, LEED AP, is presenting at this year’s Building Museums Symposium in St. Louis, Missouri, on Friday, March 7.

The session title is Designing to a Place: Architecture and Exhibit Design for the New Milwaukee Public Museum. This presentation will discuss the design process for the Milwaukee Public Museum and how it has been meticulously tuned to engage the rich heritage of Milwaukee and Wisconsin at large.

Co-presenters include Chris Ludwig, AIA, Associate Principal and Senior Designer at Kahler Slater; Katie Sanders, Chief Planning Officer at the Milwaukee Public Museum; Helen Divjak, Senior Curator at Thinc Design; and Jarrett Pelletier, AIA, Design Principal at Ennead Architects.

The 2025 Building Museums Symposium is a 3-day national event that focuses on the process, promise, and pitfalls of planning and managing museum building projects. It is an opportunity for architects, museum leaders, project managers, and all professionals who plan or implement new construction, renovation, preservation, or expansion projects for museums.

Learn more on the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums Website.

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February 10, 2025 – Shannon Nichol, FASLA, PLA, LEED AP, is giving a lecture at Ball State University’s Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning in Muncie, Indiana, as a guest speaker on Wednesday, March 19.

Shannon’s lecture Seeing and Drawing is geared toward students and designers early in their careers in landscape architecture or related fields. One of the frequent questions from young professionals is how the traditional, first steps of objective site analysis and listening can translate into design that is not only truly contextually responsive and technically sound but also personally creative and intuitive. Deformalizing the boundary between the existing place and one’s design concepts, as well as the boundary between one’s personal interest and work, can help enrich every task as well. Referring to GGN’s 25 years of work – as well as some off-piste personal studies in plant propagation and ecology – Shannon will share examples of design-driven efforts to visualize the real ground of each pace. Over time, these efforts have become increasingly hands-on and intuitive.

Other professionals speaking at Ball State University this year include Mark Roseland, Professor of Sustainable Community Solutions at Arizona State University and Author of the novel Towards Sustainable Communities; Josh Vermillion, Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator at the University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Architecture; and Ronald Fry, PhD, Co-Creator of the Appreciative Inquiry theory and method.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Learn more on Ball State University’s website.

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February 5, 2025 – Waterfront Seattle announces that construction on the Bell Street Improvements Project, which GGN designed, is starting soon.

Waterfront Seattle aims to create more accessible east-west connections for all modes along the Alaskan Way/Elliott Way corridor, including to Belltown, the downtown core and Pioneer Square. The project will strengthen the connection between the 20-acre Waterfront Park and Belltown, with improvements on Bell Street between Elliott Avenue and 1st Avenue. Thanks to community feedback, Bell Street will include a 2-way protected bike lane, widened sidewalks and new pedestrian amenities.

The groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the project’s construction featured remarks from Bruce Harrell, the Mayor of Seattle, and Angela Brady, the Director of the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects, and other community leaders.

Learn more on the Waterfront Seattle website and the Seattle Department of Transportation Blog.

Watch the full video of the ceremony here.

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November 18, 2024 – Shannon Nichol is selected by the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) Foundation to join the jury for their 2024 Research Prize.

The Research Prize was introduced back in 2018 as a way of cultivating meaningful research from faculty-led teams who are currently teaching at professionally US-based, accredited academic programs in architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture, urban design, or engineering. Two $40,000 prizes are awarded to the teams with original research that contributes to the topic given by the SOM Foundation.

The topic for this year’s Research Prize is Advancing Toward a Water-Secure Future. This comes amid water-related concerns supported with the following statistics that were shared during last year’s United Nations Water Conference:

• 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water.

• 40% of the world’s population is affected by water scarcity.

• 70% of water usage is dedicated to agriculture alone.

• More than 90% of disasters are water related.

• By 2050, pressure on freshwater is projected to increase by more than 40%.

To confront these existing and future problems, applicants will submit projects that effectively address the complex relationship between people, water, and the built environment. It is expected for applicants to develop “innovative and multidisciplinary ideas that shape ling-term policies, define comprehensive plans, and identify immediate actions.”

The jury that Shannon will be joining is led by Iker Gil, the Executive Director of the SOM Foundation, and includes Carson Chan, Director of Emilo Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment and Curator for the Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Architecture and Design; Carol Coletta, President and CEO of Memphis River Parks Partnership; and Alex Krieger, Research Professor in Practice of Urban Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and SOM Foundation Fellow.

Learn more about the Research Prize and Research Prize Jury.

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November 12, 2024 – Shannon Nichol is presenting to members of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) at the Washington Park Arboretum Visitors Center on Thursday, November 14th.

In Designing for Beauty and Repair with Our PNW Native Plants: Lessons, inspirations, and question, Shannon will focus on sharing an open conversation and ongoing process of learning about how to design with and steward our region’s under-utilized native plants in garden settings. She will reflect on her own garden experiences, sharing her successes and failures with these plants.

Past speakers for APLD include Ray Larson, the Associate Director, Curator of Living Collections and the Otis Hyde Herbarium, at the University of Washington Botanic Gardens; Jan Johnsen, a Principal, Landscape Designer, and Author; Jenny Jones, Co-Partner at Terremoto Landscape; Sarah Samynathan, Senior Designer at Terremoto Landscape; and Brandon Burgess, a Contractor, Educator, and Water Professional.

The Association of Professional Landscape Designers was founded in 1989 to help advance the landscape design profession and recognize landscape designers as qualified professionals. The Washington Chapter of the APLD was founded in 2000 and is the oldest chapter in the country. Through events, peer oriented discussion groups, webinars, and publications, the APLD provides members with opportunities for professional growth and networking.

Learn more on the Washington Chapter of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers event page.

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November 6, 2024 - The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Seattle Chapter has selected the University of Washington Foster School Expansion as the winner of the Energy in Design Award as part of its 2024 Honor Awards program.

Out of 118 submissions across 3 different submission categories, 17 award winners were selected by the jury board. Founders Hall at the University of Washington Foster School of Business received the Energy in Design Award for becoming “a new social hub on campus and demonstrates the university’s commitment to climate change, social justice, and education’s positive impact in the world.”

GGN is honored to hear that the jury has selected Founders Hall for such an award and thankful for the opportunity to collaborate with a team that contributed their own passion and expertise toward the integrated, design-build approach that made this project possible.

Learn more on the American Institute of Architects Seattle Chapter website.

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October 3, 2024 – Shannon Nichol is giving a virtual presentation, Forms, Weeds, and Real Life, as a guest speaker for the New York Botanical Garden’s Annual Landscape Portfolio Lecture Series on Tuesday, October 15th.

As co-founder of Seattle-based landscape design firm GGN, Shannon Nichol is committed to specifying local native plant palettes through long-term and norm-breaking collaborations with local horticulturalists and landscape managers around the world. Stemming from a lifelong enthusiasm and amateur familiarity with her home region’s under-used native plants, Nichol has documented the successes and failures of incorporating native plantings into her own gardens over the last 15 years, a process that has heavily influenced her professional work and led to many creative explorations and friendships along the way.

Hear from Nichol as she shares learnings and insight from projects including; Chicago’s Lurie Garden at Millennium Park, the Gates Foundation Campus in Seattle, and the Seattle Residence: Native Gardens.

The three-part lectures series will continue with Shane Coen, the founder and CEO of Coen+Partners on October 28; and Lauren Stimson, a Landscape Architect, Principal, and Partner at STIMSONon November 19.

Learn more on the New York Botanical Garden's website.

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October 3, 2024 – Rodrigo Abela is a field session leader at this year’s ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture in Washington, DC, on Sunday, October 6th.

Constructing National Memory: Composition, Renovation, and Adaptation within the Monumental Core will discuss the evolving commitment to making the American story “accessible and sustainable” through the following landscapes of memory: the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the World War II Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial.

Brenda Sanchez, FAIA, Senior Architect and Senior Design Manager at the Smithsonian Institution will join Rodrigo in leading the discussion about the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Field session leaders for the memorials include Sara M. Downing, ASLA, PLA, Principal at Oehme, van Sweden and Associates; Mary Katherine Lanzillotta, FAIA, Partner at Hartman-Cox Architects; Yue Li, Chief od Professional Services Division at National Mall and Memorial Parks; Bill Eubank, LEED AP, and Duane Krueger, Regional Sales Managers at Cold Spring; Roy Jach, Senior Project Manager at Sigal Construction; Holly Rotundi, Executive Director at Friends of the National World War II Memorial; and Kara Lanahan, ASLA, Principal at Horn & Company.

Attendees can be expected to learn the following:

• Understand the complexity associated with renovating or adding to an existing memorial with regard to the design review process, including expectations and maintenance considerations.

• Analyze strategies for incorporating accessibility and sustainability into the visually sensitive context of the National Mall.

• Examine how materials and planted form can be used to capture emotional content for each landscape’s narrative.

• Review a range of different design strategies that both accommodate modern-day needs and honor the context of historically sensitive sites.

This is one of many field sessions that will be taking place throughout the first and last day of the conference. With a total of 31 field sessions scheduled for this event, there are many exciting opportunities for attendees to learn from and connect with fellow landscape professionals.

Learn more on the ASLA Conference website.

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September 17, 2024 – Shannon Nichol is presenting at the 5th Annual Bellevue Botanical Garden and Heronswood Symposium in Bellevue, Washington, this coming Saturday, September 21st.

Co-hosted by Dan Hinkley and Nita-Jo Rountree, “Our Gardens: Alive!” will explore garden pollinators through an ecological lens. Speakers include Patrick C. Tobin, Professor of Disturbance Ecology in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington; Daniel J. Hinkley, World-Renowned Plant Explorer, Lecturer, Nurseryman, Naturalist, and Gardener; Scott Beuerlein, Manager of Botanical Garden Outreach at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden; and Heather Holm, pollinator conservationist and award-winning author.

In her talk, Tiny Wilderness and Tea Towels, Shannon will discuss the backyard test beds, beautiful native wasps and bees, and her home propagation experiments that changed her approach to landscape architecture and garden design — especially in her home region of the Pacific Northwest.

“I would hope that people might take from my talk the inspiration to have a fresh look at the way we know and celebrate seasons, family traditions, and communal identity in this place of the Pacific Northwest,” Shannon says. “I think that there is a wide-open era in front of us in which we start seeing the real beauty, abundance of unique seasonal cues, and cultural richness and history in the plants and animals that surround us in this place.”

“We can teach these things to our children and enjoy celebrating where we are rather than automatically limiting ourselves to facsimiles of places that many of us have never been to. Gardening with the native plants of this place – and embracing those plants that happily meet us where we are in our urban, sunbaked yards – is a wonderful way to immerse oneself and one’s family in wildness and seasonal celebration every day,” Shannon added.

In a special to the Seattle Times, Lorene Edwards Forkner wrote Here’s a behind-the-bees preview of a garden symposium on pollinators.

The symposium will be held in-person in the Aaron Education Center at the Bellevue Botanical Garden and online. All presentations will be recorded and available to all attendees for two weeks following the live event.

The symposium is a fundraiser for the two presenting organizations, Bellevue Botanical Garden and Heronswood Garden. Tickets are available on the Bellevue Botanical Garden's website.

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