About Our Studio

SCAPE is a landscape architecture and urban design practice headquartered in New York with offices in New Orleans and San Francisco. We design and advocate for the ecologically restorative and socially engaged landscapes, urban environments, and natural infrastructure of the future. We do this through diverse forms of design—built landscapes, planning, visioning, and research—with the ultimate goal of connecting people to their environments.

Our staff of over 80 individuals includes landscape architects, urban planners, architects, ecological designers, horticulturists, and community engagement professionals—and a deep bench of technical expertise related to construction, regulation, and agency review. We work across disciplines, collaborating with architects, developers, engineers, foundations, agencies, institutions, and grassroots environmental justice and community groups on projects of all scales.

We plan, design, and build parks, waterfronts, plazas, master plans and urban frameworks, campuses, educational and cultural landscapes, greenways and multimodal trails, streetscapes, on-structure and interior landscapes, wayfinding and interpretative signage, and more. We also communicate the transformative potential of landscapes through publications, exhibitions, research, thought leadership, and other initiatives. With a focus on excellence in construction and long-term performance, we translate complex visions into beautiful, legible, and equitable landscapes.

SCAPE’s work and leadership has been honored with the highest awards in the design field—including the 2023 Obel Award, several national and chapter ASLA, APA, AIA, and other professional awards; the 2019 National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum; and a National Planning Achievement Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2017, Founding Principal Kate Orff became the first landscape architect to receive the prestigious ‘Genius’ Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. In 2019, she was elevated to the ASLA Council of Fellows.

The firm’s collaborative leadership team includes Kate Orff, FASLA, RLA, Founding Principal and Partner; Gena Wirth, RLA, Design Principal and Partner; Alexis C. Landes, Managing Principal and Partner; John Donnelly, RLA, Technical Principal and Partner; and Pippa Brashear, RLA, Resilience Principal and Partner.

SCAPE was founded in New York in 2007.

Services

Landscape Architecture

With a rapidly expanding portfolio of built work, SCAPE brings excellence and technical rigor in landscape design from concept through construction—realizing visionary, high-performance landscapes with attention to detail, context, accessibility, and ecological value. We design across scales, from regional greenways to urban pocket parks.

First Avenue Water Plaza

Urban Design and Planning

As nationally-recognized leaders in urban planning and design, SCAPE has led multi-disciplinary teams to develop master plans and frameworks for agencies and private clients across the U.S., setting the stage for long-term urban transformations, civic investments, and climate adaptation efforts in cities and regions.

Resilient Boston Harbor Vision

Ecological Design

At the core of SCAPE’s practice, ecological design is threaded through all aspects of our design—we have pioneered a holistic approach that prioritizes innovation along the water’s edge, habitat regeneration, native landscape conservation and water body restoration, informed by cutting-edge research in the natural sciences and environmental engineering.

Living Breakwaters

Engagement

For SCAPE, engagement isn’t just a box to check—it can educate; build consensus; bridge the gap between agencies, the private sector, and the public; amplify the voices of marginalized groups; and contribute to the hard work of existing advocates on the ground. Our toolbox is ever-expanding—we adapt our approach with every project, geography, and social context.

Chattahoochee RiverLands

Visioning

Giving an inspiring form, identity, and narrative to new futures in the built environment is a critical first step in transforming our cities and landscapes for the better. With an eye toward long-term processes and implementation, SCAPE helps a wide range of clients co-develop iconic visions that will stand the test of time, threading together stakeholders’ key aspirations with the realities of public strategy and approvals to ensure they remain implementable.

Gowanus Lowlands

Certifications

Clarb Certified

We are registered in the states of: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, Minnesota, and California

WBE

City of New York, NY; State of New York; Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; City of Boston, MA; State of New Jersey; Fulton County, GA; State of Kentucky

SBE

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Registered with Federal Central Contractors Registry