Shannon Nichol
FASLA, PLA, LEED AP
Founding Principal
Shannon Nichol is a founding partner of GGN. Shannon’s designs - including Millennium Park’s Lurie Garden, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Campus, and Boston’s North End Parks - are widely recognized for being deeply embedded in their neighborhoods and locally native ecologies. Recent and current projects include India Basin Shoreline Park, the Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture, Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center, and the Seattle Residence: Native Gardens.
Shannon is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects (Seattle). She and her partners received the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Landscape Architecture in 2011, and GGN was the recipient of the 2017 ASLA National Landscape Architecture Firm Award. Shannon’s projects have been recognized with ASLA National Awards of Excellence, ASLA and AIA Honor Awards, Tucker Design Awards, and Great Places Awards from the Environmental Design Research Association.
Throughout her career, Shannon has consistently engaged in a wide range of volunteer and educational activities. Her most recent guest lectures have included Cornell University, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and the Washington Native Plant Society. Shannon delivered the Sasaki Day Key Note Lecture at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2017, and she and Jennifer Guthrie were the Glimcher Distinguished Visiting Professors at Ohio State’s Knowlton School in 2015. Shannon’s work has been exhibited at several university galleries, and she has also contributed to important design publications, including A+U Magazine and Representing Landscapes: Analogue edited by Nadia Amoroso. Reflecting her longtime advocacy for restoring both native plants and walkable streets into contemporary life, Shannon currently serves on the board of directors for Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.
PROJECTS
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Campus
Lower Rainier Vista & Pedestrian Land Bridge
The Lurie Garden at Millennium Park
Rackspace Headquarters: Racker Square
Pike-Pine Renaissance Streetscape Design Vision
Chromer Building Parklet & Streatery
Seattle Streetcar: City Center Connector
Connecting Downtown Cleveland Master Plan
Green Roof and Streetscape at Fifth Avenue North
Evergreen Gardens
Venice Biennale - Towards Paradise
San Antonio Voelcker Park Competition
UW School of Medicine Phases 1, 2
Seattle Center Theater District Master Plan
Kreielsheimer Promenade at Marion O. McCaw Hall