Group Mackenzie adds landscape architecture

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR), Jul 19, 2006 by Alison Ryan

Group Mackenzie's multidisciplinary approach to architecture and engineering formally added another facet last week - landscape architecture.

With the addition of landscape architect Dan Jenkins, who will lead the newly formed department, the firm will be able to pull landscape considerations into the thought process at a much earlier stage, said Jeff Reaves, president of Group Mackenzie. Jenkins will be on board from the first time pen hits paper with a project, Reaves said,

It just heightens our discussions about what's appropriate for a site, he said, and to explore other options we couldn't normally explore because the project's gone down a road so far.

That involvement is made especially easy by being a part of a firm rather than a consultant, Jenkins said.

We'll have these great meetings with the architects and the civil engineers and the planners, he said. It's really a complete conversation that can occur in-house at a moment's notice.

In collaboration with the firm's architectural and civil engineering departments, Jenkins has taken a role in current firm projects such as the athletic fields at Concordia University, the Willamette 205 Corporate Center and the Bybee Lake Logistics Center.

I can enhance their work, but also start to expand their work in other areas, Jenkins said.

That expansion has already started.

Group Mackenzie's first landscape-led project, a dog park and artificial turf sports field in Lake Oswego, is under way. Jenkins has hired one full-time team member for his department and, as projects flow in, will hire more as needed.

With Jenkins' experience, Reaves said, the firm's ability to do campus planning, parks and urban design, streetscapes and sustainable landscapes will take off. Group Mackenzie's focus is already on a holistic approach, Reaves said, and the addition of a landscape architecture department underlines the commitment.

All that fits together really nicely, Reaves said.