Gruen Associates

Los Angeles, California
by

Gardenhouse; Beverly Hills, CA
Winner of the ASLA Southern California Quality of Life Merit Award, Gardenhouse is a luxury mixed-use residential community in Beverly Hills where landscape defines the living experience. A dramatic living green wall, one of the largest in Southern California, transforms the Wilshire Boulevard frontage into an iconic vertical landscape while enriching the pedestrian experience. Eighteen residences are organized around a lush central courtyard that serves as the project's communal heart and tranquil garden retreat. Layered planting, intimate pathways, and generous private terraces blur the boundary between indoors and out, creating a series of connected outdoor rooms that enhance biodiversity, comfort, and wellness while redefining urban residential living.Photo Credit: Gruen Associates

Foothill Blvd. Upgrades; Claremont, CA
Transforming a historic segment of Route 66, the Foothill Boulevard Streetscape Project reimagines a two-mile corridor as a greener, safer, and more connected Complete Street. Gruen Associates led the landscape architecture, developing a planting strategy that preserved the corridor's mature tree canopy while introducing California native and climate-adapted species to strengthen biodiversity, support pollinators, and manage stormwater through integrated bioswales and landscaped medians. Protecting the existing trees was central to the design, ensuring the long-term character of Claremont's celebrated urban forest. Monument signage, seating areas, and site furnishings draw inspiration from the iconic ceramic tile work of Millard Sheets, reinforcing the city's cultural identity while creating welcoming public spaces.Photo Credit: KOA/Lochner

LAX/Metro Transit Center; Los Angeles, CA
At the award-winning LAX/Metro Transit Center, landscape architecture transforms a major transportation hub into an intuitive, human-centered gateway. As the first direct rail connection to LAX, the LEED Gold transit center seamlessly integrates Metro, buses, bicycles, pedestrians, and the future Automated People Mover into a cohesive arrival experience. Sweeping canopies, layered planting, and carefully choreographed circulation guide travelers through spaces inspired by Southern California's ecology. Native habitats, bioswales, renewable energy, recycled water, and climate-responsive design create a resilient landscape that enhances comfort, biodiversity, and sustainability. More than infrastructure, the project redefines arrival by making landscape the city's first and most memorable impression.Photo Credit: Jason O'Rear

Rosemead Blvd. Upgrades; Temple City, CA

 
Gruen Associates led a multidisciplinary team to transform the former Caltrans Rosemead Boulevard into a walkable, multimodal urban promenade inspired by the world's great boulevards. The design reimagined the corridor as a lush, contemporary streetscape centered on people rather than automobiles. A signature feature is the two-mile, seven-foot-wide protected Class I cycle track, separated from traffic by landscaped islands, parking, and a continuous canopy of shade trees that enhances safety and comfort for cyclists and pedestrians alike. The revitalized boulevard has catalyzed public art, private investment, and additional streetscape improvements throughout Temple City. Regocnition: APA Planning Excellence, ASLA Merit, AIA California Merit, PeopleForBikes one of the nation's ten best new bike lanes.Photo Credit: Mike Urbanek

Carson Streetscape; Carson, CA
The Carson Street Master Plan Implementation Project transforms one of the City's primary corridors into a vibrant, pedestrian-oriented boulevard that strengthens community identity and enhances the public realm. Gruen Associates led the landscape architecture and project management, designing a cohesive streetscape that includes widened sidewalks, decorative crosswalks, biofiltration curb extensions, pedestrian lighting, site furnishings, wayfinding, and gateway features marking the City's eastern and western entrances. Native and climate-appropriate planting, integrated stormwater infrastructure, and shaded pedestrian spaces improve walkability while supporting sustainability and urban resilience. By unifying mobility, landscape, and placemaking, the project creates a welcoming civic corridor that encourages investment, supports local businesses, and establishes a distinctive identity for Carson through a high-quality, people-focused streetscape.

710 North Mobility Improvement; Los Angeles, CA
For more than 60 years, the unfinished SR-710 freeway represented one of Southern California's most controversial transportation projects. Originally envisioned as the final link in the regional freeway network, the extension was ultimately halted after decades of community opposition, legal challenges, and changing priorities. Instead of funding a new freeway, Caltrans is investing hundreds of millions of dollars through the SR-710 North Mobility Improvement Project to reconnect the communities the freeway would have divided. Gruen Associates is helping shape a unified vision that transforms auto-oriented streets into connected, people-centered places with safer intersections, protected bikeways, enhanced transit, expanded landscaping, and vibrant public spaces. Photo Credit: Gruen Associates

LA Riverway; Los Angeles, CA
The Los Angeles River Bikeway/Greenway project will help complete the regional trail system through the western San Fernando Valley, extending from Vanalden Avenue to Balboa Boulevard within the Sepulveda Basin. By expanding active transportation connections, the greenway will improve access to transit, neighborhoods, schools, employment centers, parks, and recreation while enhancing the river as a community destination. The project also transforms four street-end pocket parks into multi-benefit public spaces that capture and treat stormwater through high-performance biofiltration systems. Additional features include native habitat restoration, interpretive signage, public art, custom seating, bike repair stations, decorative fencing, pedestrian lighting, and wayfinding, creating a healthier, more resilient, and inviting river corridor. Photo Credit: Shimahara Visual

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Gardenhouse; Beverly Hills, CA
Winner of the ASLA Southern California Quality of Life Merit Award, Gardenhouse is a luxury mixed-use residential community in Beverly Hills where landscape defines the living experience. A dramatic living green wall, one of the largest in Southern California, transforms the Wilshire Boulevard frontage into an iconic vertical landscape while enriching the pedestrian experience. Eighteen residences are organized around a lush central courtyard that serves as the project's communal heart and tranquil garden retreat. Layered planting, intimate pathways, and generous private terraces blur the boundary between indoors and out, creating a series of connected outdoor rooms that enhance biodiversity, comfort, and wellness while redefining urban residential living. Photo Credit: Gruen Associates

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Foothill Blvd. Upgrades; Claremont, CA
Transforming a historic segment of Route 66, the Foothill Boulevard Streetscape Project reimagines a two-mile corridor as a greener, safer, and more connected Complete Street. Gruen Associates led the landscape architecture, developing a planting strategy that preserved the corridor's mature tree canopy while introducing California native and climate-adapted species to strengthen biodiversity, support pollinators, and manage stormwater through integrated bioswales and landscaped medians. Protecting the existing trees was central to the design, ensuring the long-term character of Claremont's celebrated urban forest. Monument signage, seating areas, and site furnishings draw inspiration from the iconic ceramic tile work of Millard Sheets, reinforcing the city's cultural identity while creating welcoming public spaces. Photo Credit: KOA/Lochner

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LAX/Metro Transit Center; Los Angeles, CA
At the award-winning LAX/Metro Transit Center, landscape architecture transforms a major transportation hub into an intuitive, human-centered gateway. As the first direct rail connection to LAX, the LEED Gold transit center seamlessly integrates Metro, buses, bicycles, pedestrians, and the future Automated People Mover into a cohesive arrival experience. Sweeping canopies, layered planting, and carefully choreographed circulation guide travelers through spaces inspired by Southern California's ecology. Native habitats, bioswales, renewable energy, recycled water, and climate-responsive design create a resilient landscape that enhances comfort, biodiversity, and sustainability. More than infrastructure, the project redefines arrival by making landscape the city's first and most memorable impression. Photo Credit: Jason O'Rear

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Rosemead Blvd. Upgrades; Temple City, CA
Gruen Associates led a multidisciplinary team to transform the former Caltrans Rosemead Boulevard into a walkable, multimodal urban promenade inspired by the world's great boulevards. The design reimagined the corridor as a lush, contemporary streetscape centered on people rather than automobiles. A signature feature is the two-mile, seven-foot-wide protected Class I cycle track, separated from traffic by landscaped islands, parking, and a continuous canopy of shade trees that enhances safety and comfort for cyclists and pedestrians alike. The revitalized boulevard has catalyzed public art, private investment, and additional streetscape improvements throughout Temple City. Regocnition: APA Planning Excellence, ASLA Merit, AIA California Merit, PeopleForBikes one of the nation's ten best new bike lanes. Photo Credit: Mike Urbanek

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Carson Streetscape; Carson, CA
The Carson Street Master Plan Implementation Project transforms one of the City's primary corridors into a vibrant, pedestrian-oriented boulevard that strengthens community identity and enhances the public realm. Gruen Associates led the landscape architecture and project management, designing a cohesive streetscape that includes widened sidewalks, decorative crosswalks, biofiltration curb extensions, pedestrian lighting, site furnishings, wayfinding, and gateway features marking the City's eastern and western entrances. Native and climate-appropriate planting, integrated stormwater infrastructure, and shaded pedestrian spaces improve walkability while supporting sustainability and urban resilience. By unifying mobility, landscape, and placemaking, the project creates a welcoming civic corridor that encourages investment, supports local businesses, and establishes a distinctive identity for Carson through a high-quality, people-focused streetscape.

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710 North Mobility Improvement; Los Angeles, CA
For more than 60 years, the unfinished SR-710 freeway represented one of Southern California's most controversial transportation projects. Originally envisioned as the final link in the regional freeway network, the extension was ultimately halted after decades of community opposition, legal challenges, and changing priorities. Instead of funding a new freeway, Caltrans is investing hundreds of millions of dollars through the SR-710 North Mobility Improvement Project to reconnect the communities the freeway would have divided. Gruen Associates is helping shape a unified vision that transforms auto-oriented streets into connected, people-centered places with safer intersections, protected bikeways, enhanced transit, expanded landscaping, and vibrant public spaces. Photo Credit: Gruen Associates

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LA Riverway; Los Angeles, CA
The Los Angeles River Bikeway/Greenway project will help complete the regional trail system through the western San Fernando Valley, extending from Vanalden Avenue to Balboa Boulevard within the Sepulveda Basin. By expanding active transportation connections, the greenway will improve access to transit, neighborhoods, schools, employment centers, parks, and recreation while enhancing the river as a community destination. The project also transforms four street-end pocket parks into multi-benefit public spaces that capture and treat stormwater through high-performance biofiltration systems. Additional features include native habitat restoration, interpretive signage, public art, custom seating, bike repair stations, decorative fencing, pedestrian lighting, and wayfinding, creating a healthier, more resilient, and inviting river corridor. Photo Credit: Shimahara Visual

Gruen Associates is one of Los Angeles' best-known legacy architecture firms, with a portfolio of landmark projects spanning more than 80 years. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the firm is led by five partners, the Associates Group, and a team of 75 talented professionals committed to innovation, design excellence, and lasting civic value. Its multi-disciplinary expertise includes architecture, landscape architecture, streetscape and corridor design, urban design, planning, and complex, high-profile public and private projects. This breadth of experience has established Gruen as a trusted leader in creating places that strengthen communities and foster social, cultural, and economic vitality. Guided by its cornerstone principles, Gruen delivers integrated solutions that pair technical excellence with close collaboration, mentorship, advocacy, diversity, and professional growth - cultivating a supportive, creative environment where initiative and design leadership continue to advance the profession.
Employees: PLAs (2), Principals (5); Total (75)
Software used: Adobe Creative Suite; SketchUp; Land FX; ENSCAPE; Revit; GIS; AutoCAD

As seen in LASN magazine, August 2026.