GGN

Rodrigo Abela is a field session leader at this year’s American Society of Landscape Architects conference 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 Smithsonian's 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 | OvS; Mary Katherine Lanzillotta, FAIA, Partner at Hartman-Cox Architects; Yue Li, Chief of Professional Services Division at National Park Service/National Mall and Memorial Parks; Bill Eubank, LEED AP, and Duane Krueger, Regional Sales Managers at Coldspring; Roy Jach, Senior Project Manager at GCS-SIGAL Construction; Holly Rotundi, Executive Director of FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL INC; and Kara Lanahan, ASLA, Principal at Horn & Company. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ghPFnX_Z

Lorene Edwards Forkner provides a preview of this Saturday's Bellevue Botanical Garden Society & Heronswood Symposium in The Seattle Times. Co-hosted by Dan Hinkley and Nita-Jo Rountree, “Our Gardens: Alive!” will explore garden pollinators through an ecological lens. Speakers include Shannon Nichol, Founding Principal, GGN; 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. The symposium is a fundraiser for the two presenting organizations, Bellevue Botanical Garden and Heronswood Garden. Tickets are available at https://lnkd.in/gm2G-Ybx

The 5th Annual Bellevue Botanical Garden Society and Heronswood Symposium is this coming Saturday, September 21. Co-hosted by Dan Hinkley and Nita-Jo Rountree, “Our Gardens: Alive!” will explore garden pollinators through an ecological lens. Speakers include Shannon Nichol, 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. 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 at https://lnkd.in/gm2G-Ybx

Ryotaro Urago covers the opening of Grand Green Osaka & Umekita Park for JapanToday. GGN collaboratively led the landscape design for this 22-acre project.

Emma Hinchliffe's story about the opening of GGN’s landscape design for Grand Green Osaka & Umekita Park headlines today's SEATTLE DAILY JOURNAL OF COMMERCE .

Excited to announce the opening of GGN’s landscape design for Grand Green Osaka & Umekita Park. Gearoid Reidy covers the story for The Japan Times.

On August 9, Shannon Nichol, FASLA, PLA, LEED AP, is speaking at the 2024 AIA Tennessee Conference on Architecture in Knoxville, Tennessee. The 3-day conference runs from August 7 through August 9. Through the theme of Grounding, the conference will explore both architecture’s physical relationship to material flows and resources within ecological systems as well as architecture’s intangible relationship to history, memory, and lesser-acknowledged cultural contexts. In her talk, Seeing the Ground – Considering the rich design that comes from sharing and learning about the ground beneath our feet, Shannon will share examples of design-driven efforts to visualize the real ground of each place. GGN’s work is often closely collaborative with architects and clients, so that the process of designing the site is also one of collective learning about the ground itself and its hidden truth and stories. AIA Tennessee conducted a thoughtful Q&A with each of their upcoming speakers, including Kiel Moe, FAIA, FAAR, Professor of Practice, Auburn University and Visiting Professor, MIT; Eric Höweler, FAIA, LEED AP and J. Meejin Yoon, AIA FAAR, Co-Founders and Partners, Höweler and Yoon; Gabriela Carrillo, Founding Partner, Taller Gabriela Carrillo + Colectivo; Saundra Little, FAIA, LEED AP, NOMA, Quinn Evans. Principal, Director of Diversity & Inclusion; and Sharon Johnston, FAIA, Founder, Partner, Johnston Marklee. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gtipPQ53

This coming Tuesday, July 23, Shannon Nichol will be participating in "Planting Forward: Conversations on New Naturalism with Global Designers and Gardeners." Shannon’s virtual presentation will focus on GGN’s distinct approach to design and collaboration, including the newly launched Meadowshop initiative in the Pacific Northwest. The "Planting Forward" series is hosted by Kelly Norris, who founded the Public Horticultural Company and its New Naturalism Academy. One of the leading horticulturists of his generation, Kelly explores the intersections of people, plants, and place through ecological, site-specific design and art. Shannon’s session will be held remotely on July 23 from 4:00-5:30pm Pacific. Registration is open through July 22. Visit the series’ website to purchase tickets.

GGN is honored to have been selected to continue the important work of designing a five-acre property at Owámniyomni (St. Anthony Falls) adjacent to the Upper Lock on the Mississippi riverfront in Minneapolis. The project is under the guidance of Owámniyomni Okhódayapi and the Dakota Knowledge Keepers and in partnership with the other experts and consultants involved. Full Circle Indigenous Planning + Design will provide project strategy and Tribal engagement. The Dakota Knowledge Keepers include Glenn Wasicuna, Gwen Westerman, Mona Smith, Jewell Arcoren, Ramona Kitto Stately, Travis Bush, Vanessa Goodthunder, Erin Griffin, Samantha Odegard, and Cole Redhorse Taylor. Additional firms and consultants offering design and technical support fo the project include HDR, EOR, John Koepke with Urban Ecosystems, TLAL-LI Collaborative, Loeffler, ETM and Schuler Shook. “The structure of this design team emphasizes that while transforming the physical land at Owámniyomni will be important, restoring relationships to the land, Dakota culture, and language are at the heart of this work,” said Barry Hand, Owámniyomni Okhódayapi program director. “This project is rooted in the idea that what is most important about Owámniyomni is already here. Now is the time for the cultural and environmental restoration that have always been one and the same for the Dakota who know this place best,” said David Malda, Design Principal, GGN. Susan Du reports on the project in the Star Tribune: https://lnkd.in/gFa2Sujc

We are hiring a marketing coordinator to join our small, creative team of visual communication and publication wizards/collaborators. Alternative paths and oddballs always welcome. https://lnkd.in/gNCmuKVn