Carducci Associates is a professional landscape architecture and planning firm in San Francisco. We serve a wide range of commercial, industrial, institutional, and public sector clients throughout Northern California. Our services include landscape architecture, planning, urban design, irrigation, and water management.
Appropriate design expresses an artistry and sensitivity to the interaction of social and natural systems and is sustainable. We focus on clients' needs, creating opportunities for interaction between people and nature that result in memorable places that evoke a positive emotional response. We believe that no two projects are alike and convey this through unique site-specific designs. Good design addresses safety, security, heath & wellness, access to nature, personal development and resource conservation.

Brownell Middle School, Gilroy, CA

 
After years of work to receive permit approval from DSA and guiding site work construction through the uncertainty of a pandemic, Brownell Middle School is complete. The design balances outdoor space for play, gathering, and teaching. Outdoor learning occurs in a variety of settings from outdoor rooms surrounded by semi-circular seat walls for more traditional, teacher-guided instruction, to wide patios inside classroom building courtyards. These patios allow students to spill out of adjacent maker spaces to tinker and collaborate. We are pleased that these spaces will play a crucial role in keeping students and staff safe, while enriching student learning opportunities. A diverse palette of native, drought tolerant, and pollinator-friendly shrubs and grasses strengthens our biophilic concept and almost 200 shade trees were planted to passively cool the site. Brownell also benefits from entirely new natural turf playing fields with more efficient, modern irrigation.

Encinal Junior & Senior High School, Alameda, CA

Above: Carducci Associates transformed the outdoor environs for Encinal Junior & Senior High School's modernization efforts. A flexible outdoor landscape offers unique opportunities for outdoor education, socialization, memorialization and active experiences. Care was taken to protect
historic plane trees lining the ceremonial entry, while quads were renovated to help accentuate the campus approach. A new maple grove and plaza appeals to students, providing areas to gather or relax on cobble-like boulders. The Junior Jets Quad offers clusters of seating and facilitates collaborative workspaces for groups and classes. Thoughtfully designed biofiltration, as well as native and habitat planting areas, support the learning of natural systems and science. The outdoor Maker Space offers students a place to work outdoors and to display or demonstrate projects to the surrounding community.

Cupertino High School, Cupertino, CA

Top Right: The renovated quad at Cupertino High School is designed to facilitate everyday use and special events in a flexible space that incorporates art, an amphitheater, and outdoor seating and dining that blend seamlessly with the school's multi-use Student Union. Native trees and plants, including California redwoods, create drama in the main quad and complement a redwood grove in the upper quad. Within the amphitheater, seating walls scattered in a nautilus-inspired shape maintain access and flexibility. At the front of the school, landscaping and curving planters create a natural flow toward the entrance and under the "bridge" formed by a portion of the school library.

Fallon Sports Park, Dublin, CA

Bottom Right: Utilizing valuable input from residents, Carducci Associates developed the master plan for this premier sports facility. The 60-acre park accommodates various competition ball fields: Little League fields, a 90-foot lighted baseball diamond, softball and synthetic turf soccer fields, basketball, tennis, and bocce ball courts, public art and restrooms. Additionally, the park provides its diverse users with a playground and picnic area, BMX course, walking paths, and convenient parking. Representing the City of Dublin's sustainability initiatives, the storm drainage system includes bio-swales and bio-basins that allow storm water to be cleaned, and bring nature to the sports park setting.