Creating with care

At Nature Sacred, we are all about meeting the moment — cultivating our partnerships and support processes to serve all who we work with, communities and designers alike. This year, as we reach the end of our first Strategic Plan as an Operating Foundation, we’re looking back at all the ways we’ve grown and evolved as an organization. Our 2024 theme, the year of Landscaping and Reflection aptly describes much of our efforts, honing processes, building out our team and solidifying ourselves as a leader in the community nature movement.

One of our key operating principles, and a focus of our last strategic plan revolves around mindset – how we think about and position our work within the greater context of national social and political context, as well as within the context of the needs of the communities that we serve. We advocate for a national and global mindset shift – towards greater acceptance of the connections between nature and wellness. Under this umbrella, we identified key goals that include aggregating and disseminating research on nature’s healing power, as well as developing targeted educational and outreach materials to inspire others in the landscape architecture field and to provide them with the tools to create and maintain authentic community partnerships with those that they work with.

Neha Srinivasan, Landscape Architect at Floura Teeter and former Project Manager at Nature Sacred

At the end of last year, we said goodbye to key team member, Neha Srinivasan who recently accepted a job with one of our Design Partners, Floura Teeter Landscape Architects, a design firm based in Baltimore that works closely with Nature Sacred on numerous projects in the Maryland area. During her time at Nature Sacred, Neha not only received her landscape architecture certification, but also supported our effort to influence landscape architects and community designers to embrace our model. In 2022, Neha authored our report The Power of Sacred Places, a guide for landscape architects interested in utilizing our methodology for community engagement and design. This report provides a tangible and evidence-based toolkit the emphasizes the importance of community lead processes and is a critical piece of our research and reports archive. As a young designer, Neha’s impressive contribution to published research in the landscape architecture field not only makes us extremely proud but is also a deeply impressive body of work that she has added to her own professional portfolio and will continue to carry with her throughout her career.

While Neha is technically no longer a member of the Nature Sacred team, true to Nature Sacred’s roots as community based and dedicated to meeting people where they are, we are thrilled to continue our relationship with Neha, although in a different way. She continues to project manage new Sacred Places throughout their design process in her new position, while also gaining the opportunity to double down on her own design skills and interests. While she may not technically be a part of the Nature Sacred team, she will forever be a part of the Nature Sacred family, and we are so excited to see her continue to blossom.

I recently sat down with Neha and another young landscape architect and Nature Sacred Design Advisor, Micaela Ada to learn more about their experience working in the field of community-based design, and their experiences working with Nature Sacred specifically.

Micaela is a Landscape Design Project Coordinator with the Neighborhood Design Center, a Maryland non-profit group of architects, urban planners, social designers and artists who partner with communities in Baltimore and Prince Georges County to help bring their visions to life. Much like Nature Sacred, the Neighborhood Design Center uses a community engagement-based approach in their work.

As a Nature Sacred Design Advisor, Micaela uses her talents and works closely with the Nature Sacred team on several Sacred Place projects. Most recently, Micaela designed the newly opened Beehive Peace Garden, located in the Johnston Square neighborhood of Baltimore. In fact, Micaela has personal connections to this area, making this project’s community engagement process even more special. Now that the site is complete, she frequently visits and continues to maintain a relationship with community members. This added level of connection speaks to Micaela’s dedication and deep care for the people whom her works serves. She shared that the most meaningful part of the work that she does is that it is all community driven and creates a lasting impact.

The way we are creating memory making spaces where people take their kids, spaces that will show up in the background of photos, and knowing that I’m impacting people’s lives brings me joy.

Micaela Ada, Landscape Design Project Coordinator and Nature Sacred Design Advisor speaking at the opening ceremony for the Beehive Peace Garden in September, 2024

I asked Micaela what sets her Nature Sacred projects apart from other community-based projects she’s worked on. She highlighted the uniqueness of the specific activities that Nature Sacred design sessions often include, many of which were ideated and implemented by Neha. From birdhouse painting and balloon animals to popcorn and cotton candy, Nature Sacred design sessions are intended to feel less like a traditional design meeting, and more like an opportunity for community members to enjoy each other’s company while dreaming and visioning together. She also appreciates the freedom and flexibility that Design Advisors are given.

We believe that when people can use their specific talents and skills in the way that suits them best, the product is much more robust, much stronger, and the passion behind it is evident. Each of our design advisors brings a unique perspective and skillset to the work, and just like the communities we work with, know what is best for them to thrive. We are committed to supporting our Design Advisors, just as they are committed to supporting the communities that put so much trust in us. As a Design Advisor, Nature Sacred supported Micaela’s participation in a program for community-based design professionals that uses play as a methodology to bring people together and create an inclusive and safe space that ensures all voices are heard. The program through Playce is a 12-week course that includes synchronous trainings with a cohort of other professionals in the field. Micaela shared about how unique and helpful the course was for her, helping to break down barriers between people with different experience levels. She shared that she frequently uses the methods with both Nature Sacred projects, as well as other projects she works on through the Neighborhood Design Center.

The Power of Sacred Places report, authored by Neha Srinivasan

While Neha is still new to her position at Floura Teeter, a firm that works both on community-based projects, as well as corporate and fee for service projects, she shared that her time at Nature Sacred managing projects and working closely with other professionals in the field equipped her with community engagement tools and project management experience that usually takes young designers years to acquire when joining their first landscape architecture firm. She emphasized that while her pathway to working as a design professional is unique, it serves her greatly as she has experience helping to develop a truly authentic community design process that she continues to employ in her everyday work with both shared Nature Sacred clients, as well as other work she’s doing at Floura Teeter.

When I asked both Neha and Micaela how they found their way to the field of landscape architecture, their responses were similar. Both began their educational journeys in different, yet related fields. Neha studied environmental science while Micaela studied kinesiology and public health. For both ladies, it was a single moment that inspired them to take a slight detour. While in undergrad at the University of Michigan, as part of her environmental science program, Neha took an ecology class that discussed urban planning and the relationships between society and plants. She immediately felt connected to this idea. For Micaela, it was an undergrad course at the University of Maryland on physical activity that made connections between people’s health, exercise and the built environment that inspired her to explore more. When she stumbled across landscape architecture, she discovered that it unlocked something inside of her by bringing together science, creativity and public health. If you were to ask any practicing landscape architect, they would most likely have a similar story.

Neha and Micaela believe that their pathway to the field that is so commonly experienced by young landscape architects is connected to an ongoing issue within the field. Like many professional fields, landscape architecture is overwhelmingly white and male with only 7% of landscape architects identifying as non-white and only 30% identifying as female. As young women and professional landscape architects of color, both Neha and Micaela believe that making landscape architecture known to students at younger ages would help connect people from different communities and backgrounds and encourage them to pursue their interests. Both Neha and Micaela discovered the field while in undergrad. Chances are that there are young people out there whose home is within landscape architecture, but they’ll never know if they are not exposed to the right class in college, limiting the pool of potential new landscape architects to those already in college, and who happen to take classes that touch on similar topics. Educating younger students on what landscape architecture is, and making an effort to show them that there are landscape architects who look like them not only builds a stronger next generation of professionals, but strengthens the community of already established professionals as well.

For my final question for Neha and Micaela, I asked about what advice they would give to a young landscape architect or young person looking to pursue landscape architecture.Their number one answer: Be curious.

“There is so much to be curious about, and professionals in the field are willing to speak with young people and be authentic when talking to them. Don’t be afraid to cold-email. Ask questions, and pursue your curiosity, it will only broaden your design toolkit.” The second piece of advice: Take it one step at a time. “All you need to look for is your next best step. You don’t need to have your whole career figured out. Your journey will adapt as you progress.”

At Nature Sacred, we are incredibly privileged to work with a host of talented, compassionate and dedicated professionals who are just as passionate about our mission to bring spread the word about the healing power of nature while helping bring accessible nature to those who need it most. We are dedicated to supporting the communities we serve, as well as those who make our work possible.