Welcome summer intern Noelle LaDue! Noelle comes to the profession through understanding how we move through the environment by studying the sociology of agriculture at Cornell, and brings her background in education and community engagement into her work with Assemblage!

Happy to announce that both Cate Meersman and Wendy Andringa are WEDG Associates! We’re excited to help raise the design standard of NYC’s waterfront for all species … every linear foot matters! Thanks to the Waterfront Alliance for developing solid guidelines and leading this national initiative.

WEDG (Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines) is a national rating system and guidelines to create resilient, ecological, and accessible waterfronts.

We are happy to announce a new team member! Cate recently arrived in NYC from the west coast where she studied and taught at UC Berkeley. Her knowledge of both landscape architecture and environmental planning bridges scales with interests in mapping, ecological systems, and design engagement. Cate received an ASLA honor award for a bird-safe glass design and installation with a student team in 2021.

Wendy Andringa, founder of Assemblage Landscape Architecture, digs into the complex layers of New York’s urban landscape with curiosity and technical know-how. A professional landscape architect with 20 years of experience at renowned New York firms like Scape and Starr Whitehouse and teaching appointments at Columbia and the Spitzer School of Architecture, Andringa is building a practice on her own terms, informed by a deep commitment to community and ecological invention.

We spoke about the power of “assemblage”, rooting into the community, her inventive urban soil research, and her new large-scale climate-adaptation projects.

At Assemblage, we see every project as an opportunity to advance climate-positive design and enhance or restore the site’s ecology, and we are excited to take this approach for a comprehensive park design at the Pavilions at Art Omi. The park will showcase art and architecture in a unique pastoral setting, situated on a hilltop location encompassing a diverse character of open fields, woodlands and wetlands.

In our changing climate, municipalities are hyper-focused on issues related to flooding, while a powerful nature-based solution to these problems is hidden in our buried urban waterways. As municipalities seek solutions to mounting stormwater issues, reclaiming buried water systems through a solution referred to as “daylighting” is gaining attention, and Assemblage is excited to be involved in this work with our Rahway Streambank Restoration Project.

Assemblage Landscape Architecture is pleased to share that we have been approved by the NYC Department of Small Business Services as a certified M/WBE business. For Assemblage, the designation as a M/WBE business signals an important step in actively diversifying leadership in the profession of landscape architecture as well as more broadly aligning ourselves with the community of M/WBE business leaders.

Assemblage is pleased to announce that we have been selected to receive GreenThumb’s Landscape Design Award for the newly revitalized Dolly’s Park in Gowanus, Brooklyn. In its sixth year, the annual GreenThumb Garden Recognition Awards are given in recognition of exceptional achievements that contribute to New York City as a greener, healthier and more equitable place.

With seven million trees across the city’s five boroughs, New York City is home to a unique urban forest ecosystem that agencies, urban foresters, and tree-loving citizen have been stewarding for centuries. With growing attention to the role that the urban forest plays in climate change mitigation, the city’s tree forest is making news. As a result, there is a growing call to action to help preserve our urban forest and plan for its future.

Assemblage is heading to Hudson, NY this week to present the Hudson Valley Collaborative’s climate-adaptive waterfront design at the Hudson River Flood Resilience Network meeting. The Flood Resilience Network is a collaborative effort between Hudson riverfront communities supported by the Hudson River Estuary program that arose out of a collective desire to address the unprecedented storm levels and flooding currently impacting the riverfront communities along the Hudson River. Together they are working to address their vulnerability to flooding and other impacts related to climate change and to explore and develop measures to improve resiliency to high impact storms, flooding, and the projected sea level rise.

Assemblage is excited to share our progress on the Kigali International Community School Campus. Nurturing a relationship with the school board and teachers has informed our design process. As the design takes shape, we see topography, ecology, and hydrology intersecting with day to day life as a student or teacher at KICS

Assemblage is excited to share our latest activity with the Hudson Valley Collaborative. We recently returned from another visit to the city of Hudson for Control and Yield, a forward-thinking panel discussion, hosted by Eco Toolshed.

Dolly’s Park, a pocket park in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn is an expression of community process and engagement at all stages. The park, outdated and in disrepair, became the focus of attention in 2020 as the neighborhood was looking at redevelopment. With much of the block slated to be replaced, community members were concerned about the park’s future in this rapidly changing landscape. Assemblage and the Park Board began to breathe new life into the park with a design that hints at the neighborhood’s past while embracing its value as a valuable green resource for today.

Last week the Hudson Valley Collaborative (HVC) had a productive meeting with our Hudson Advisory Group to discuss the four main goals that will guide our park design. One of these goals, ‘Expand the Park’, will expand the park to higher ground in response to more frequent flooding and sea level rise associated with climate change.

In December 2021, the Hudson Valley Collaborative gathered with community members for a meeting at the Waterfront Park. This meeting was part of our work for the City of Hudson Climate-Adaptive Design Project. The project calls for a design that will respond to flooding and projected sea level rise. This rise in global sea level is impacting the entire Hudson River estuary and adjacent waterfront properties.

We believe each project is an offers opportunities to imagine our work extending beyond site lines and property limits. Our work on a public Library in Queens is an example of how a small project can have global connections.

Back in NYC, Assemblage is now deeply immersed in our findings from our time spent on the ground in Kigali. The process of discovery that came with meeting with the KICS school board, teachers and students, as well as exploring local nurseries and construction sites shed unexpected and valuable light on how to turn innovative ideas into a practical reality in Rwanda.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced funding for projects in the Hudson River Estuary region intended to help communities improve climate resiliency and ecosystem restoration. After a rigorous grant selection process, they have selected the Hudson Valley Collaborative, who will partner with the City of Hudson to provide a climate-adaptive design for a city-owned shoreline park. Assemblage Landscape Architecture is thrilled to be one of the designers comprising HVC for the project, along with Kaja Kuehl of youarethecity. HVC has partnered with eDesign Dynamics, who will provide environmental engineering expertise on the project.

For Assemblage, these early moments on the ground in Kigali are critical in forming a deep understanding and a bond with both the site and its place within the greater region. It is here that we are also meeting and immediately getting to work with our team-mates based in Rwanda. These are important days in forming our response to the design opportunities with this project and we’re excited to share some first impressions. The process of interacting with the landscape is critical to our approach to design and to this project.