The mission of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW) is to conceive, design, and build landscapes that forge meaningful connections between people and nature. This creative work is accomplished through a steady process of deep listening to the land, the people who use it, and those who tend it.
NBW’s research-driven process begins with the idea that “the land is full,” an acknowledgement that all landscapes have stories embedded within them. Working at the intersection of culture and ecology, NBW employs the tools of landscape architecture to address some of the most pressing issues of our time: resilience in the face of climate extremes, the precipitous loss of global biodiversity, and increasing social fragmentation and disenfranchisement. The firm deploys research and creativity to design novel solutions that meet the needs of people, plants, and animals.
NBW’s methodology brings together designers, historians, artists, restoration ecologists, and other specialists to create landscapes that are both socially and ecologically resilient. The firm’s Conservation Group documents each site’s ecological systems, while the Culture Group researches its human history, from Indigenous lifeways to landscapes of bondage to the present day. Working in close collaboration with the Design Group, these teams build a layered understanding of place that informs authentic, site-specific design responses, balancing the needs of clients and communities while honoring both history and ecology. The Communications Group then engages the broader community to ensure this knowledge is shared and embedded throughout both the design process and the landscape itself.
NBW applies its design process primarily to public landscapes, working across an extraordinary range of scales and contexts. The firm’s work spans parks and civic spaces, such as Memorial Park in Houston, Centennial Park in Nashville, and Piedmont Park in Atlanta; culturally significant sites, including the Angel Oak Preserve in Charleston, South Carolina, the Brooklyn Naval Cemetery, and the Rothko Chapel campus in Houston, Texas; and academic environments at institutions like Rice University, the University of Virginia, and Georgia Tech.
Together, NBW-designed public landscapes around the world host an estimated 30 million visitors each year.