We incorporate the latest innovations in materials and execution to create classic yet minimalist designs. Underlying all of our projects is the exploration of the dynamic between built and natural elements.
PHILOSOPHY
Vital, enduring, and compelling environments are the result of creating places that resonate with their context, that create value through experience, and that establish an unmistakable level of quality and substance to enjoy.
“We don’t like to say we specialize in sustainability. In our industry, sustainability should be a given.”
JAMES MUNDEN, PARTNER
PROCESS
MFLA approaches each project with a site-specific response regardless of scale. Believing that the landscape is one of the most potent and lasting forms of cultural expression, Marta and James lead the Studio in the exploration of the intersections between environmental, social, and cultural systems.
The Studio’s objective is to reveal and express these dynamic relationships in forms and compositions that re-connect people to place.
“Projects are more compelling if they have unique, authentic identities. We always strive to balance functional parameters with experimentation in form and spatial organization.”
MARTA FRY, PARTNER
This is a good place for another note about process and working methods.
Or how wonderful and talented the junior staff is.
APPROACH
Our design approach is to expose and reveal the multiple physical, social, cultural, and technical strata intersecting a project site. Fundamental to this is the exploration of the dynamic between art and science. MFLA's core planning and design principles are developed for each project regardless of scale, program, or scope.
DEFINING ISSUES + RESPONSIBILITIES
The best design solutions are often found within the problem. MFLA comprehensively defines criteria and parameters for a successful project while working closely with the project team, clients, city agencies, and key community stakeholders.
BALANCING FUNCTION + EXPERIMENTATION
Projects are more compelling and vital if they have unique and authentic identities. MFLA advocates an 'art advantage' into design collaborations that explores a project as an artistic venture in form and spatial organization.
TRANSFORMING THE DAY-TO-DAY
Achieving identifiable, visually compelling, authentic design is critical to any project. MFLA is preoccupied with the design and realization of a project that has presence and spatial choreography, giving users comfortable choices for active or passive participation in the use of exterior spaces.
CREATING AUTHENTICITY OF PLACE
Environment and culture are the sources of human identity and the means by which we define place. MFLA seeks design solutions that unfold through discovery, that reflect and enhance sense of place, and that establish an unmistakable level of quality.
TAKING THE LONG VIEW
With a focus on sustainability, MFLA incorporates a basis of green landscape infrastructures in the form of sculpted and artistic streets, parks, plazas, and campuses which offer compelling public and private environments designed to facilitate social equity, smart transit, stormwater management, and regenerated biological systems that improve environmental quality. We bring these same principles and technologies to all of our projects.
