DERU landscape architecture

Client: University Circle, Inc. | 2021

The Cozad-Bates House is the last remaining Civil War era house in University Circle. The renovated building is home to the Cozad-Bates House Interpretive Center. While it’s not confirmed it was a stop on the Underground Railroad, the owners had ties to the Abolitionist movement. Historic University Circle was an agricultural community with liberal views, and today is a world class center. The public plaza and CBH Interpretive Walkway connects commuters, visitors, and neighboring residents to that history. The story of the Freedom Seekers is embedded in the construction of the landscape design including a metal inlay of the Big Dipper. Visitors are led on a sensory trail that provides the opportunity to access a small portion of the Freedom Seeker’s physical journey and a resting space big enough for small group conversation. NEORSD granted stormwater management captures all site runoff with native plantings. The event lawn and garden spaces are shared with the public and adjacent Transplant House.

Photo Credit: David Joseph Photography

Client: Sustainable Community Associates | 2022

A mixed-used building that included intricate planting throughout 3 faces of the building. While maintaining the urban character of the neighborhood, the project desired an natural overgrown feel as though the building “grew out of the neighborhood”. The design overcame the challenge of different solar orientations by incorporating a diverse and complex pollinator planting plan. Each unit has their own window box featuring natives and vines. Additionally, plantings surround the building including walls, crevice plantings, and a green roof.

Client: Art House Inc | In Progress

Art House is a nonprofit arts center located in historic Brooklyn Centre, between the Ohio City and Old Brooklyn neighborhoods of Cleveland, Ohio.

Multiple local partners came together to apply for a stormwater management grant that includes plans to improve the site for community use.

The design process included an art focused charette that invited the community to express their desires for the new space.

Client: Sherwin Williams | In Progress

The Building Our Future project consists of a new global headquarters located in downtown Cleveland.

The project involves a parking garage a 36 story tower and multi story pavilion.

The proposed planting scheme is inspired by the paint chip card. Families of colors are seen throughout the site in mass plantings and are highlighted in a bold color garden at the entrance to the new headquaters.

Client: Dealer Tire LLC | 2017
When Dealer Tire moved their headquarters to a historic building in midtown Cleveland, they took nearly a city block of hardscape and converted it to green space for the employees. A loop trail, outdoor seating for large and small groups, and a large event lawn provide space for activities and created pleasant views from within the building. A piece from the owner’s art collection sits atop a newly constructed overlook. The bioswales traversing the site capture 100% of the runoff, and the butterfly-friendly plantings host monarch butterflies on their annual migration. Employees were so interested in the landscape that we provided plant labels.

Client: Beck Center of the Arts | 2021-Under Construction

The Beck Center for the Arts is undergoing a multiphase renovation to provide art access to the community. A featured element of the renovation is a is welcoming park and plaza. The park is designed to accommodate all scales of performances, from a solo guitarist to a local theatrical event.

Located upon the footprint of the former performance building, the park uses rounded forms a nod to the former building’s architectural style. The former plaza of the building used the colors of “de stijl”, red, blue, and yellow. Those primary colors have been translated into the space through the planting selection. The choice to honor elements of past designs symbolizes that the center’s future is still grounded in it’s history.

Client: Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District & Burten Bell Carr Development Inc. | 2015

In Cleveland’s Kinsman neighborhood, a set of landscape insertions was created revolving around stormwater management. One, within the Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone, is an outdoor classroom with pervious pavers set amid native pollenator-friendly perennial gardens. The second captures rainwater from adjacent buildings and channels it to a cistern. A pump allows residents to creatively participate in stormwater re-use and makes water available for the nearby community orchard.

Client: Northeast Shores CDC & LandStudio | 2013

A vacant lot in Collinwood is now an art pocket park with sculptures, murals and a community orchard. Art-themed plantings in warm and cool hues surround a recycled stone terrace that can be used for small neighborhood gatherings. A sculpture by a local artist in bronze and turf watches over the new park.

Client: Millennia Development | 2016-2017

Once a windy and desolate place to rush through, Key Plaza is now an inviting extension of the surrounding green spaces, with a garden-like atmosphere and inviting amenities for day and night. Raised planters with a variety of seasonal shrubs and flowers, seating amenities, a dining terrace with fire pits and covered seating, and enhanced lighting throughout give the space a fresh life. The design elevates the exterior of the building to match the interior, and also helps connect public square and the downtown mall into a more cohesive experience.

Client: City of Cleveland | 2016

The new hotel attached to the Cleveland Convention Center features a green roof visible from guest rooms and the swimming pool, an extensive dining terrace and a special garden space with a fire pit.

The connections to the city and the malls are strengthened and highlighted on every side of the building. The hotel is an integral part of the public space of the Mall for visitors, but it also feels welcoming to the residents of Cleveland. Seating, gathering places, and strong pedestrian connections allow the hotel to contribute to the growing dynamism of the downtown core.

Client: Geauga Park District | 2020-2022

The existing park at Frohring Meadows has a trail and picnic shelters, but any play area for younger children was lacking. This nature playground and garden was designed to explore through play the habits and traits that make pollinators unique and special while promoting eco-gardening practices. Mounds were created out of spoils from a previous project at the park and they were graded to a gentle slope terminating at a custom deck and expansive view of the meadow. Each custom play component relates to a specific pollinator species, for example the log tunnels nestled in the side of the mound relate to Carpenter bees who bore circular holes into soft wood to lay their eggs.

Ecological planting principles were used to develop the planting scheme including continuous flowering throughout the season, single-flowered varieties, and planting larger blocks of single species. The larger meadow restoration project in the park included host plants for many of Ohio’s butterflies and insects. This play-garden introduces another, Anaphalis margaritacea, larval host plant for the American Lady Butterfly.

*Construction picture courtesy of Geauga Park District