Firms & Projects: MGB+A

MGB+A has many years of experience with projects that require a commitment of personnel and project management from design development to project implementation. On all projects a principal or associate is selected as project manager to oversee administrative matters, organization, and quality control. The entire staff acts as an in-house design review body that insures the client a quality project.

MGB+A is a firm involved in planning, design, and many other endeavors relating to man's interaction with his environment. The firm of Maas and Grassli Landscape Architects was originally founded as a partnership in 1959 and in 1973 became a corporation. In 1980, the firm relocated the office headquarters from Ogden to Salt Lake City, Utah and became MGB+A. Principals and associates at MGB+A are qualified, experienced, and licensed landscape architects and land planners.

What sets them apart

MGB+A provides quality, creative services to meet or exceed the needs and desires of the client while upholding our professional responsibilities to the community, the environment, and the art of landscape architecture.

Project: The Brigham Young University Sculpture Garden

Sculpture Garden

In an effort to create an overall horizontal sculpture as well as provide a functional setting for sculpture exhibits, MGB+A was commissioned to provide an outdoor art gallery on the Brigham Young University (BYU) campus. The abundant use of vegetation and flowering plant material mixed harmoniously with special stone paving, rock walls and earth shapes, creates this unique example of artwork within a creative atmosphere.

Project: Thanksgiving Point Gardens

Thanksgiving Point

The gardens at Thanksgiving Point were first conceived by Alan and Karen Ashton. The 280-plus acre site originally began as a garden area and a small farm, highlighting the sights, sounds, smells and even tastes of the world in which we live. A vegetable and ornamental garden was proposed along with some row crops, an animal petting area and open farmland.

Services: Since this humble beginning, MGB+A has been instrumental in the master planning and design of this venture. The interest in the development has continually grown in size and involvement to include housing sites, recreation areas, a nursery, greenhouses, tree farm, petting zoo, display gardens, a boutique, and a farmers market. Additional future design ideas include a children?EUR??,,????'???s garden, extended stay housing, condominiums and retail opportunities.

Thanksgiving Point

Design Elements: The Discovery Garden is proposed to encompass several interactive water features, mazes, the ecology of a fresh water pond, an instructional amphitheater, several model railroads with villages and a display of life underground (including a cave, rock formation and mineral educational mound, discovery village, dinosaur dig, butterfly and bird gathering garden). The design highlights the educational experience of the child within a garden atmosphere.

Project: Ogden Municipal Block

Municipal Block

With the renovation of the old municipal building it became apparent the surrounding park needed to be renovated as well. The fifty-year-old Ogden Municipal Park was in great disrepair and was populated by many transients. For these reasons, the citizens of Ogden avoided the area completely. Only at Christmas time, during the annual Christmas Light Village, was the area used eagerly by Ogden families and surrounding communities.

Services: For this project, the landscape architecture firm was hired as the prime consultant with architects and engineers on its team. The Landscape Architect enjoyed a major role from the beginning of the project in program planning through completion and grand opening of the project.

Municipal Block

Special Features: Adding an acoustical wall and arbor enclosure that minimized the downtown noise while adding drama is just one of the designs implemented to address the renovation obstacles.

The water feature was designed to add movement and power to the entrance of the park. River bottom rocks were used to simulate the beauty of the nearby mountains and streams. Low maintenance was the key factor in planning this feature. The water used does recycle itself and is stored below ground.

The Colonnade was designed to blend with the Art Deco style of the Municipal Building. It is a grand feature that strengthens the entrance to the park. The colonnade will also serve as a center for the future Keisel Avenue and future development of the three blocks to the north. A square dancing pavilion is planned as a future addition.

Municipal Block

Design Solutions: The program for renovations began with eliminating mid-block parking and Kiesel Avenue, which ran down the middle of the project area. Other obstacles were the large number of electrical pedestals that ran throughout the park and the noisy atmosphere created by the downtown traffic.

Services: MGB+A provides clients with a team of experienced professionals. Their projects include landscape architecture, park design, site planning, urban design, design guidelines, community master plans, open space design, town center planning and historic streetscape rehabilitation.

Depth of Experience: MGB+A?EUR??,,????'???s staff has over 76 years of combined experienced urban design, land planning and landscape architecture.

Industry Recognition: An important sign of the quality and creativity of a design is its ability to win industry awards. MGB+A has won over 40 awards from various organizations including the American Society of Landscape Architecture and the American Institute of Architects.

Regional Perspective: MGB+A has been in the Intermountain area for over 40 years. They have seen the cities and communities around us grow and expand and are very familiar with the challenges of the unique mountain desert area.