Our Practice
SCJ Studio specializes in site planning, master plans, community planning, and residential garden design, as well as public and urban spaces, parks, ecological restoration, and navigating tough permitting requirements. We are strategic thinkers and enjoy challenging work. We are team players and understand the complex environment in which we do our work, as our experience runs deep.
Our landscape architecture-focused offices are in Seattle, Spokane, and Wenatchee, WA; Butte, Montana; Denver, Crested Butte, and Gunnison, CO. And are part of a larger group of talented engineers, planners, biologists, and designers with locations in Lacey, Gig Harbor, and Vancouver, WA and Boulder, CO. We listen to our clients and the community, taking their vision to bring to life design solutions that exceed expectations, are site-sensitive and appropriate and match the project constraints.
No matter the location, we understand and consider the local climate when developing our plans. We believe planting design is a true art. Plants are dynamic from season to season and year to year. We consider all four seasons when selecting material and specify materials based not just on what it looks like today, but what it will look like ten months and ten years after installation. It's not just about plants, it's also about how all the materials work with the site, the architecture, and the climate.
We are dedicated to making the places we live better. Whether that is by developing plans for entire communities or creating intimate spaces for you and your family, we are proud of our high-quality designs that are sensitive to the community, the site, and your budget.
Approach
Place
Critical to landscape design is the understanding of the place - your space’s place in the region, the urban or rural context, the site constraints, and opportunities, and the micro details of each garden bed. We find the perfect balance between the built and the unbuilt environment. Whether Washington or Montana, Colorado or Idaho, we understand your place in the world.
Details
Our design team understands how to build great site features from concept through construction. Your project’s character is shaped by the architectural details that surround it. Complementing, focusing or sometimes screening certain external elements can make or break the experience.
Sustainability
Our experience with habitat restoration as well as our scientific backgrounds bring a greater understanding of horticulture and ecology to your project. What will your garden, park or streetscape look like in 10, 20 or 50 years? How large will that tree grow? We know, and we build resiliency into each project. Our site design choices are guided by understanding the processes that have shaped your land.
Personality
All too often designers forget whose landscape they’re designing. Our process is collaborative because we understand a great landscape is not just creatively thought out or beautiful to view, but reflects the personality and enhances the outdoor enjoyment of its owner or others who use it. It’s YOUR project, and we won’t forget it.
The Design Process
If you’re like some of our clients, you’ve never hired a Landscape Architect before. Here’s how we take your project from start to fantastic finish.
