Civic

Our landscape architecture team is passionate about creating truly beautiful public spaces that are not only accessible to all, but delightful and engaging to users. From designing the smallest park (or parklet!) to strategizing comprehensive and interesting ways to connect a community at the neighborhood scale, at Board & Vellum, we strive to make public projects something communities are proud to call their own.

We’ve built our reputation through dedicated, client-focused service — our egos take a back seat to the needs and constraints of the project and our clients’ best interests, whether public or private. Our collaborative, integrated approach to the design process culminates in thoughtful, considerate projects.

Our work can be enjoyed throughout the Puget Sound region, where we’ve designed and implemented a variety of community and municipal projects. As a local, neighborhood firm, we know it’s not just about a building, facility, or park, but the neighborhood and communities those spaces serve, and the city or county responsible for maintaining and operating them. We take great pride in working with our partners to realize their vision for the public spaces they enjoy.

We revere the rich and diverse natural systems of the Pacific Northwest that give our region a special identity and shape our communities. As part of our process, we carefully consider the opportunities to integrate natural systems into the design so the result will be more robust, resilient, and educational.

From restoring habitat to minimizing paving to using economical and sustainable materials, we ensure that even the smallest project has an opportunity to celebrate and support the natural history and future of our region. When we work in other regions, we partner with local experts to deliver the same level of service.

Our integrated design team has both a passion for public works and the experience to develop and manage a project from planning through construction. We’re knowledgeable, creative, and adept at identifying the complexities of layering technical requirements with usable public spaces.

With the goal of delivering a beautiful and functional final project, we’re able to tap into our network of trusted consultants who can best address your project’s unique needs — from ecologists to surveyors to engineers to cultural resources to specialty consultants, and everything in between.

We’re also skilled at working with city, county, or other regulatory agencies to meet local, state, and federal requirements. The result is a final project balancing community needs and desires with the site realities, budget, and project parameters.

We know how important connecting to the local community is, and we know how fun it can be, too. Engaging with the community is one of our favorite parts of the design process, and we’ve witnessed the positive impact it has on overall project outcomes.

We make sure to connect to city, community, and other stakeholders to develop engagement plans that reduce barriers to the public process, incorporate community priorities, and utilize innovative approaches for idea generation and feedback without the need for in-person meetings.

The result is accessible, engaging, and diverse forums for sharing hopes, dreams, and goals for the spaces we share. At ribbon-cutting, participants of the public feedback process enjoy a built project grounded in goals celebrating their vision.

For us, Barrier Free Design is more than just the minimum standard for providing accessibility in compliance with ADA requirements — it is an approach we use to actively seek opportunities to remove barriers and provide equal opportunities to all persons, regardless of ability, mobility, background, or place of origin.

Our designs prioritize shared experiences, where families, groups, and individuals are all invited to participate at an equal level. At Board & Vellum, we approach our work with universal, Barrier Free Design as a guiding principle, not an afterthought. It’s inclusive throughout our design process.

Creating community spaces that support the diverse and changing needs of our neighborhoods is at the core of Board & Vellum’s mission. As community members ourselves, we see, every day, the impact welcoming public spaces have on our own families, friends, and neighbors. When it comes to civic work, regardless of project size or scope, our goals remain the same: to create thoughtful, innovative solutions that reduce barriers to access, build community, and inspire connection.

Our community-first approach is emblematic of the advocacy inherent in our process, where we prioritize creating more beautiful, livable, and inspiring neighborhoods everyone can enjoy. It’s not just about building spaces — it’s about building community, and we can’t wait to get started.