GGN

As the Tellima and Camas are in full bloom today at this Seattle garden of locally native plants, we are honored to share the inclusion of this special project in Phaidon’s The Contemporary Garden, from co-editors Victoria Clarke, Sorrel Everton, and Rosie Pickles.

It is heartening to our collaborative and mission-driven clients, as well as to our Meadowshop team (who focuses on continuing the approach using insights from this garden and our preceding years of test beds), to see this garden included in a global survey of gardens that look to the future.

Plants in this garden were mostly sourced from our friends at . Horticulture was shaped and established by

GGN co-founder will lecture at the ‘s Spotlight on Design lecture series
May 7 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Tickets at link in bio or website.

Shannon Nichol, co-founder of GGN, discusses the firm’s approach to landscape architecture, which integrates urban planning, landscape design, restoration ecology, architecture, engineering, and art. Based in Seattle with a studio in Washington, DC, GGN has advanced an approach that places ecology at the center of public life for more than three decades. In this lecture, Nichol highlights projects ranging from urban waterfronts and cultural campuses to parks and civic landscapes, showing how each design reflects local history, culture, and native ecology. Attendees will learn about the research, ideas, and collaborative processes that shape GGN’s work across diverse geographies and scales.

About Shannon Nichol, FASLA, PLA, LEED AP, Hon. AIA Seattle 

Shannon Nichol’s current and recent work includes the Visitors Center for Three Affiliated Tribes National Park (with ), India Basin Waterfront Parks in San Francisco (with ), the Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture (with and ), and Native Plant Demonstration Gardens in Seattle. 

Spotlight on Design is presented by the Anthony and Keiko Greenberg Foundation.
Additional support provided by the American Institute of Architects , Brick Industry Association , and HDR, Inc.

Sydney Modern Project: The Expansion of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia

Sydney Modern Project’s design for the art museum campus connects existing and new buildings, unfolding as a sequence of experiences across open spaces and gardens.

The design complements the architecture of the Gallery’s new building by SANAA while introducing a new public art garden.

Revitalization of the forecourt of the existing, historic building included integration of universal access.

Client Group: Art Gallery of New South Wales
Completion Date: 2022

TEAM
SANAA, Architect
GGN, Landscape Architect
Architectus, Executive Architect & Planner
McGregor Coxall, Local Landscape Architect
Arup, Civil, Structural, Fire, Security Engineering
Waterforms, Fountain Consultant
Steensen Varming, Lighting Consultant
Richard Crookes Construction, General Contractor

This month’s Backstory in features .malda ‘s process drawings and thoughts about taking part in and learning from the extraordinary project.

GGN has been selected to lead the design of the United States’ first garden installation at the 2027 World Horticulture Expo in Yokohama Japan.

The theme of the Expo is “Scenery of the Future for Happiness.”

Photo #1: /
Image: Expo Logo
Photo #2: .lehoux

This week GGN’s Chihiro Shinohara and .malda joined students from for the 2026 All-Department Charrette:Resilient Campus! in Urbana Champaign. During the three-day workshop, over 75 students explored the pasts and potential futures of their campus. Students divided into three groups led by , and . Student leaders worked with these professionals to shape the process and themes for their teams. The workshop culminated in presentations that connected collective ideas with individual student explorations.

The GGN team encouraged students to explore deeper layers relationships of the land to the university’s land-grant legacy and the campus as they know it today. This led to the development of multiple experimental “plots” that build on initiatives across the campus that are connecting ecologically rich moments with communities of making, learning, and ongoing-care for the land. The final presentation emphasized the value of storytelling as a part of landscape architecture along with specific “plot” proposals.

On Friday will deliver the keynote session in the annual Aggie Workshop to draw together students and professionals around creative conversations and design topics.

This year’s Workshop@theme is around Observation, so Shannon will bring thoughts and exercises around ways to use hand drawing to help a designer to see and to communicate the unseen.

Calling all design students – we are now accepting applications for our 2026 Summer Internship in our Seattle studio. Applications due by February 23rd.

Visit our website for application details and submission process https://www.ggnltd.com/internships

A group of GGNers is in Japan, here visiting recent construction and programming progress at our multi phased .green.osaka project.

This project has been a wonderful experience of creativity and collaboration with a large, talented team of clients, architects, and other professionals, including GGN alumnus and collaborator, Katsunori Miyahara.

Our own Herman Yu 📸 spotted this saturated + sharply dressed studio scene from her westward-facing desk on Friday afternoon, before our annual Holiday Party, which also happened to commemorate our 25th (or possibly 26th, but who’s counting) year.

Cheers to all of our colleagues, clients, and community partners during this shared moment of seasonal and quarter-centurial reflection.