Firm Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:DLANDstudio is an interdisciplinary design firm founded in 2005 by Susannah C. Drake. Prior to starting an independent practice, Susannah worked for architects and landscape architects in New York, Cape Cod, New Hampshire, Wyoming and San Francisco. Exposure to diverse ecosystems, population densities, and scales of operation enriched her vision of what makes places truly special.
The firm provides an integrated approach to planning, programming and design. As leader and collaborator on large teams that include architects, artists, landscape architects, planners, and engineers, DLANDstudio helps enrich team consideration of expressions of landscape meaning while maintaining focus on project goals throughout the development process. The firm is committed to creating projects with a strong conceptual basis drawn from an understanding of the place, the client, the program, and appropriate construction techniques. Our goal is to create beautifully designed, ecologically intelligent, and well executed projects that work well at the large scale and are executed in rigorous detail.
Since its establishment, DLANDstudio has grown to include both national and international projects. Recent works include the Gowanus Canal Sponge Park™, a public open space system designed to absorb and remediate stormwater, the Brooklyn Bridge Pop-up Park, a temporary waterfront open space that attracted almost two hundred thousand visitors over thirteen weeks of operation in 2008, and the security for the New York City Police Department headquarters in Lower Manhattan. DLANDstudio’s current international work includes the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls outside of Lilongwe, Malawi and the design of a 1200 acre public park and resort development in Abuja, Nigeria. The firm’s Brooklyn Queens Expressway trench study and Gowanus Canal Sponge Park™ project are the recipients of numerous awards from the American Institute of Architecture and American Society of Landscape Architects.
