SWT Design

We're celebrating Scott Runde's tenth anniversary with SWT Design!

Scott is the kind of person who takes every detail of a project seriously. That attention to the full picture, the design, the process, and the people affected by it, is what makes him such a valued part of this team.

Here's to ten years, Scott, and everything still to come.

Today, SWT Design was proud to sponsor a table at the 35th Annual Forest Park Hat Luncheon, celebrating 150 years of the people's park and 40 years of Forest Park Forever.

Congratulations to the City of St. Louis Department of Parks, Recreation, & Forestry and Forest Park Forever on these milestones. Thank you to Tarlton Corporation for joining us in sponsoring a table, and to Forest Park Forever for all they do to keep this park #1 in the country.

Meet Llewellyn, our newest intern!

We're thrilled to welcome Llewellyn Bailes to the SWT Team! Studying for a Master's in Landscape Architecture at Washington University, Llewellyn brings an appreciation for the combination of art and design in the practice of Landscape Architecture.

Originally from Los Angeles, Llewellyn has always found inspiration and joy from nature. As an undergraduate, taking a green design elective started her path to Landscape Architecture.

Llewellyn is driven by the understanding that interaction with the natural world is necessary for human health and wellbeing. Her current passion in the field is to bridge creativity and aesthetic beauty with quantitative data. When she's not at the studio, you can find her drawing, powerlifting, and juggling.

Our KC team had some fun inspecting and testing River Forest Park's Natural Playground before opening day.

The central slide tower is over 20 feet tall, with ropes, a slide, and a 360-cantilever swing designed for multiple kids at once. The nearby creek and trails give children room to explore nature beyond the playground itself.

The community has been waiting for this one. We're glad to have been part of bringing it to life alongside our partners: City of North Kansas City, Mega KC, Civil & Survey LLC, Stand Structural Engineering Inc, PKMR Engineers, Terracon, Great Southern Recreation, SiteOne Landscape Supply, and PermaTrak Concrete Boardwalk Systems.

Our St. Louis office roof garden is in full bloom.

What looks like a rooftop retreat is also a working test bed. We use this space to trial different soil depths, plant species, and tray systems for less intensive green roof installations, so we can bring that hands-on knowledge to future projects.

Prickly pear, fame flower, and lead plant are among the species currently thriving up here, supporting pollinators, slowing stormwater, and making it a pretty great place to take a lunch break.

Ted Spaid, SWT Founding Partner, still feels the loss from trees destroyed in last year's tornado. So do a lot of St. Louisans. In a new piece for the St. Louis Business Journal, he makes the case that what we lost wasn't just beautiful. It was infrastructure.

Ted is calling for a regional Urban Forestry Alliance, modeled on Great Rivers Greenway, with a goal of 40% tree canopy coverage across the St. Louis region by 2040.

Read the full piece at the link below. (St. Louis Business Journal subscription required.)

Big St. Louis ideas: A regional alliance centered on trees - St. Louis Business Journal The proposal comes a year after a tornado reshaped neighborhoods and created voids where mature trees once stood. Research shows trees return $1.89 for every $1 invested.

This morning, SWT Design hosted a ULI St. Louis 60 Minute Mentorship conversation with Managing Partners Ted Spaid and Bonnie Roy. They shared their career journeys, lessons learned, and perspectives on leadership and collaboration with a small group of professionals and emerging talent.

Mentorship goes both ways. Glad we could open our doors for that conversation.

Our St. Louis office got moving for Bike to Work (or Wherever) Day. Whether you rode to work or not, we hope you're able to get outside today. Maybe even on a trail or greenway we've worked on.

Thanks to Trailnet for organizing. See you out there.

Meet Galen, our newest intern!

We’re thrilled to welcome Galen Kohlbrecher to the SWT Team! Studying both Environmental planning and Landscape Architecture, Galen brings an inquisitive mind focused on how human design and nature can work together to improve and restore the world around us.

Originally from Highland, Illinois, Galen’s interest in nature started early. He first learned of the field by stumbling across the Landscape Architecture studios during a high school campus tour of Utah State University. Ever since, he’s wanted to practice Landscape Architecture.

Galen is driven by learning how things tick, and how small details can come together to solve bigger issues. His current passions in the field are for low impact construction, process-based habitat reconstruction, and the impact of beavers on an ecosystem. When he’s not in the studio, you can find him rock climbing, working on an organic garden, and bird watching.