AARON
sculptor, managing partner
I’ve found the task of describing myself extremely challenging, which I blame on the reality of wearing so many hats over the last five years. Designer. Project Manager. Husband. Carpenter. Mason. Business Owner. Father. Customer Service. Landscape Architect. Laborer. Metal Fabricator. Accounts Receivable. Plant Procurement Specialist. Furniture Maker. Irrigation Tech. Quality Control. Marital Therapist. General Contractor. The list goes on… but in the whirlwind of bringing what you see in our portfolio to life, the question still remains. Who am I?
At my core, I am a sculptor. My medium is land. I sculpt land beneath your feet, between you and your neighbors home, on rooftops and along mountainsides. Through complex processes of physical and ecological manipulations along with the innate understanding of human psychology and architecture, I’m able to form bare earth into gardens that extend your ability to live, outside. My goal is to blend the built and natural, ground the refined architectural elements into the earth as if they were always there and create a connection between the user and the space to actually invoke an emotion each time they enter.
BS, Landscape Architecture
West Virginia University
ZAYA
designer
Contributing to the art world was lost on me until I found Landscape Architecture. Fashion, while I love it, in practice was a harsh environment for me. Painting, while I love it, was too structured in school for me. Even attempts to leave the art world fell short, Environmental Science, while I love it, was going to be more math and paperwork than physically being around plants and animals.
Landscape design combines the best parts of fashion, painting, and environmental studies. Only in Landscape Design can I find what I am looking for, which ultimately is helping others show and experience their self-expression in their own physical spaces through design.
I strive to discover the self-expression of each specific location I work on. To me, that is the essence of design. The outcome must emerge from the best parts of the existing space and the elements in the design must be driven by the people who occupy that space. It must be unique, it must take you on a journey that separates you from the world around you, even if only for a moment. It must inspire the eyes to wander, the hands to touch, and the nose to smell. It is an escape.
This is what Landscape Design is to me. It is a love letter to the places we call home, crafted especially for you.
BAEPD, concentration in Landscape Architecture
Minor in Sustainability
University of New Mexico School of Architecture
HADIZA
creative director, managing partner
“The currency of civilization is art.” Art exists to me in infinite forms,as the expression of our complexity, yet as the simple language we all can see to form understanding from. I found design speaking to me from a young age, in the black lines of interior plans my father doodled on countless surfaces, in the ease of exploration along the Mediterrenean as a curious teenager, or in the way culture shaped the attire, lifestlye and place across countries I grew up in. Design is connection, attention to detail, and I nurture the ability to dive in further, to learn the importance of the specific.
To me, being a designer is the most enriching experience because it means iteration, it means diving in, but it also means pulling back and reflecting. There are lessons to be learned from working that reflect back on the personal, and ultimately that is the goal, to curate spaces, objects and places down to the use on a personal level. For me, the desire to create gives me the desire to live.
BS, Landscape Architecture
West Virginia University
503.462.3889