At Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, we are inspired by the power of landscape architecture to deliver beauty in its many forms: rational, lyrical, and exuberant. We believe that the most meaningful landscapes anticipate what they will mean to their many audiences and emerge from straightforward, elegant problem-solving techniques. Our work is unfussy and original, sustainable and enjoyable, democratic and direct. MVVA believes that landscape plays a critical role in shaping a positive experience of place—both found and designed—and that a strong sense of place helps enhance everyday experience, healthy communities, and quality of life, which are at the heart of a livable city.
Our staff of 80 work collaboratively to ensure that every project benefits from our multidisciplinary fluency. Our work encompasses a range of scales and landscape types, from the design of large public parks and university campuses, down to intimate gardens and private landscapes. Regardless of project size or location, MVVA’s built landscapes also exemplify outstanding environmental performance, financial resourcefulness, and technical innovation. Our landscapes are social and programmatic centers for communities, institutions, and individuals—places that become part of daily life.
As a firm we prioritize client vision, and we are proud to have many long-time and repeat clients including Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, Princeton University, Harvard University, Wellesley College, The Menil Collection, and Waterfront Toronto. We are also deeply interested in landscape as an exercise of both imagination and knowledge. We pursue this in multiple ways, including research, teaching, lectures, and publications, often in collaboration with leading professionals from a wide range of fields.
MVVA’s projects have received many of the highest professional honors for design excellence and for innovation. We are exceptionally proud that Brooklyn Bridge Park was awarded the Brendan Gill Prize from the Municipal Art Society of New York in 2010, given to a work of art that best captures the energy and spirit of New York City. MVVA was selected as the Firm of the Year by the American Society of Landscape Architects in 2016.
