URBAN LANDSCAPE DESIGN & PLANNING



GREENVILLE, SC | NEW YORK, NY



Counts Studio is an award-winning urban landscape design and planning office founded in 2009. Our innovative work is the result of a collaborative studio environment of landscape architects, urban designers, and architects who share a commitment to creating world-class outdoor spaces.


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We are big-picture thinkers operating at the intersection of people, ecology, and architecture in cities. Ranging in scale from urban master plans to residential gardens, our work is defined by an attention to spatial proportions, topographic manipulation, material expression, and the on-the-ground experience of place.


check out our recent projects

leadership



Christopher Counts


Christopher brings a wealth of award-winning urban landscape design experience to all of our projects. He is a native of Greenville, SC and a former Senior Associate with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates in Boston and New York. He is a Visiting Lecturer at Clemson University, a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and a Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Museum National Design Award Nominee. He earned his BLA from the University of Georgia and his MLA from Harvard University.



Maria Counts


Maria leads urban design research and focuses on developing strategies for generating immersive spaces that improve ecologies and health through design communication and landscapes. She is a published author, Assistant Professor at Clemson University, a Fellow of the Garden Club of America, and won awards and grants for her work. Previously, she worked at Reed Hilderbrand and with the NYC Parks Department. She earned her BSLA from Cornell University and her BLA from the Rhode Island School of Design.


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Bryan Cantwell


Bryan is an internationally recognized designer who leads and oversees our landscape architecture, construction documentation, green infrastructure, and implementation efforts. His innovative approach to landscape technology, material expression, and construction detailing are an invaluable part of ensuring that the vision of our projects are properly executed. He has been the a director at the NYC Parks Department where he managed over 30 successful projects a year. Bryan earned his BLA from Oklahoma State University.



Our research-based design process combines the best of cutting-edge digital technology with traditional drawing and modeling techniques as a means to test and visualize ideas. Large-scale physical models, rigorous research and analysis, and immersive visualizations play a critical role in the success of our work.


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"The representation and symbolism are unbelievably beautiful and incredibly well distilled"



-National ASLA Professional Awards Jury



"The depth of analysis was immediately clean and usable. It would work well for community groups"



-National ASLA Professional Awards Jury



With all of our projects, we seek to create universally accessible, site-specific urban landscapes defined by their visual identity, social vibrancy, and ecological health through the goals and aspirations of our clients.


go to portfolio of projects

gardens



Our gardens are about creating intimate relationships between architecture, plants, and people. We recognize that small outdoor places can have a big impact on enhancing daily lives. Native ecologies, year-round use, and material authenticity inform our garden designs.



URBAN parks



At their best, urban parks are theaters of civic life, shape cultural identity, and become engines of economic prosperity. Our world-class park design experience has taught us how to balance the pragmatics of operations, principles of social spaces, and processes of ecology.



campuses



We understand the important role that campuses play in the lives of faculty, staff, students, and visitors of an institution. Our campus designs employ strategies for improving site interactivity, year-round use, short-term and long-term goals, and universal accessibility with maintenance in mind.



streetscapes



Our well-designed sidewalk systems are designed to improve the social vitality, visual identity, ecological health, and economic growth in urban areas. We believe it is with the streetscape that we are able to shape the pedestrian experience and positively impact the overall city image.



master plans



Our Master Planning work is defined by an emphasis on the relationship between visionary planning concepts and their implications on physical experience at the human scale. We place a strong emphasis on program and adaptive ecologies in our master plans.



installations



We approach installations as exciting opportunities to experiment and invent. Through garden installations, we explore new urban landscape typologies, material applications, and architectural form as a means to generate new knowledge and test the potential of urban landscapes.



memorials



Our memorials are forward looking. Rather than relying on traditional sculptural objects, we create sacred and honorific spaces with elemental materials, transcendence, natural sounds, and meditation. We abide by trans-cultural sacred space principles of ritual to create everlasting sites.



PLAZAS



We understand that plazas can shape the image of a city, build civic pride, enhance social interaction, and foster economic development. Our plaza designs prioritize the use of locally-sourced and durable time-tested materials to reflect the individuality of communities for generations.



PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT



We believe in the transformational potential of development ventures. With our clients, we help to generate new landscape development typologies, overall site branding, and with the ecological design to aid developers with renovation and new projects alike.



ROOFTOPS



Be it a roof garden or green roofs, our innovative on-structure landscapes are designed with people, nature and animals to thrive in. We believe that these exciting spaces can be authentic, site-specific, experientially rich, and socially vibrant places for outdoor living.



PLAYSCAPES



We support the view that the best form of children’s’ play is natural play. Our playscapes are informed by a deep understanding the increased cognitive and social development in children when engaging with natural, immersive, and informal play environments.



ECOLOGICAL DESIGN



Our ecological design combines an understanding of the changing scale, color, texture, and spatial character of plants. We pay particular attention to seasonality and proportion in our planting strategies with an emphasis on using native species.



recent news



337 GARDEN NEARS END OF CONSTRUCTION



NEW YORK, NY



MARIA AND CHRISTOPHER COUNTS ACCEPT TEACHING POSITIONS AT CLEMSON UNIVERSITY'S SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE



CLEMSON, SC



SUSTAINABLE PARKING COURT AND RAIN GARDEN NEARS CONSTRUCTION COMPLETION



NEW YORK, NY



COUNTS STUDIO ANNOUNCES OPENING OF NEW SOUTHEASTERN OFFICE



GREENVILLE, SC



COUNTS STUDIO DELIVERS LECTURE AT IIT



CHICAGO, IL



COUNTS STUDIO EXHIBITION OPENS AT S.R. CROWN HALL, IIT COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE



CHICAGO, IL



COUNTS STUDIO FEATURED IN NEW PUBLICATION



COMPENDIUM OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE & OPEN SPACE DESIGN



COUNTS STUDIO PRESENTS FINAL DESIGN TO THE WORLD WAR 1 CENTENNIAL COMMISSION AND INCLUDED IN PUBLIC EXHIBITION



WASHINGTON, D.C.



COUNTS STUDIO FEATURED IN THE ROSA BARBA INTERNATIONAL LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL



BARCELONA, SPAIN



CHRISTOPHER COUNTS IS CRITIC AT UIC COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE



CHICAGO, IL



MARIA COUNTS IS FEATURED IN PUBLICATION



THE MAKING OF PLACE; MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY GARDENS BY JOHN DIXON HUNT


more news and recent awards and recognition

MARIA COUNTS AWARDED 2018 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT GRANT FROM THE VAN ALEN INSTITUTE SPONSORED BY THE NY STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS



NEW YORK, NY



counts studio



Counts Studio Urban Landscape Design and Planning

204 E 84th St #2B, New York, New York 10028

34 Byrd Boulevard, Greenville, SC 29605

hello@countsstudio.com

2018 Counts Studio, L.L.C.