About Us
Twin Rocks Landscape Architecture was formed out of a desire to bring thoughtful design and a strategic focus to select clients. Named after the iconic Oregon Coast landform, Twin Rocks understands that strong, simple moves can be the most powerful. Our work encompasses a wide variety of settings and typologies. We prioritize close listening, in order to understand how best our expertise can bring the client’s vision to life. Our goal is to create places that will bring rest, connection, and joy into our lives for mental, physical, and environmental restoration.
TRLA values design excellence. The office carefully considers how the landscape can add value to the design, the environment, and the long-term enjoyment of the project space. Whether it is an urban terrace providing respite and inspiration for office workers, or a floodplain restoration, our work is thoughtfully constructed to respond to the client and site’s long- term needs. TRLA has experience maximizing limited resources with simple, elegant design solutions that resonate strongly with different types of people.
TRLA is invested in a resilient, sustainable future. Our process addresses the built and natural environment with sensitivity and the long-range perspective, ensuring a robust natural and cultural environment for future generations. TRLA works to conserve, manage, and restore natural systems utilizing a variety of site-specific strategies as appropriate. We are proficient in designing to stringent design local and national standards for the protection and sustenance of natural resources. TRLA will work with clients and design teams to decarbonize the design process by analyzing a proposed or existing project’s carbon footprint, providing the estimated time to carbon neutral, and suggesting alternatives that may improve those metrics.
Authentic community engagement results in design with people, not for people. TRLA has long been an advocate for engaging the community as co-creators in design and planning. TRLA has an exceptional background leading successful engagement processes, helping to build consensus across diverse user groups. We use open and inclusive processes with a variety of interactive tools and multiple opportunities for communication.
Principal Kirsten Nichols has been working in the architectural and landscape design field for over twenty years. Educated at the University of Washington and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, she holds additional accreditations in sustainable site and environmental design. Her work has won numerous awards across the country.
