Firm: Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, Seattle
ASLA Chapter: Washington State
Category: Works

Kathryn Gustafson makes relevant the human body's relationship to the earth at this critical point in our ecological history. To enter a Gustafson project is to gauge immediately the motion of one's body against topographical movement and open one's senses to gradients of space-saturating plant, water and paving textures. Currently, she is working throughout Europe, North America, Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Her methodology empowers others, and her design process centers on rigorous site analysis. She shapes sensually pleasing and beguilingly simple landforms as the basis of her design. Her landscapes can be dramatic or remarkably understated. She believes passionately in the importance of everyday, public spaces and their ability to foster civic responsibility.