The Early Advantage

Cheryl McIntosh
Jul 7
6 min read

There is a moment early in every new project that is the most valuable moment in the entire design process. It is the moment when landscape and architecture are in conversation with each other, and when every possibility is still on the table.

"The design is always better when we're there in the beginning," says Principal Mike Szabo, PLA, ASLA. It is a philosophy that has shaped the firm since its founding in 2014, and it is the reason SZABO approaches every project as a fully integrated member of the design.

What Early Involvement Looks Like

In landscape architecture, the difference between early and late involvement fundamentally changes what is possible.

When SZABO joins a project in the concept phase, the scope of work looks very different than a conventional "landscaping" engagement. The team is not selecting plants for beds that have already been placed, or softening edges that have already been hardened. SZABO is participating in the foundational decisions: Where does the building footprint land? How does the site slope, and how can that topography become an asset rather than a problem to engineer away? Where are the native rock outcroppings worth preserving? What views should every room in the house be oriented toward?

Partner Brian Nierman, PLA, ASLA, describes the process, "One of the things I enjoy most is being brought on early in the architectural process—the back and forth of 'napkin-sketch' planning as it relates to where the building footprint sits amongst the surrounding natural features, and then designing outdoor living spaces advantageously using whatever natural elements are there."

That back-and-forth is not a formality. It is the design. When a landscape architect and an architect are trading sketches at the same table before the first permit drawing is produced, the result is a site where landscape and structure feel grown from the same idea.

When SZABO is engaged after the building is designed, after utilities are placed, after the grading plan is permitted, the landscape has already been defined by default. The pool goes where the pool goes because that is where the flat pad was cut. The entry sequence leads where the driveway leads because that is where the civil engineer put the curb cut. Trees are planted where trees fit, not where trees belong.

Effective, attractive, landscape architecture involves considered and specific response to the site, one that can only be crafted when the outdoor environment is part of the conversation from the start.

An Iterative, Client-Centered Process

For every project, regardless of scale, the process begins on the site itself. "The first step is to spend a lot of time on site and get a feel for what it specifically offers, what we want to highlight, and then work backwards from there," says Mike Szabo.

That site reading informs an iterative series of design conversations with clients, architects, engineers, and where relevant, with community stakeholders. Designs are presented, discussed, revised, and refined. A pool may shift fifteen feet to capture the afternoon sun and mountain views that a first plan missed. A terrace may drop a level to fall within a riparian overlay zone while also creating an unexpected and beautiful connection to the water. An entry drive may thread between existing ponderosa pines rather than through them, preserving a grove that defines the character of the property.

This feedback loop is how good design works. Each round of input from the client, the architect, or the site itself sharpens the solution. By the time a SZABO project reaches construction documents, the design reflects hundreds of small calibrations that collectively produce something that feels exactly right for the site, the family or business, and the region.

Tetherow Sport Recreation Center, Bend

One of SZABO's clearest examples of early, integrated collaboration is the Tetherow Sport recreation center, winner of the 2016 High Desert Design Council Award for Best Landscape Design. SZABO joined the project team at the outset, working directly with architect Darren Thomas to help site and size the building itself, then program and choreograph the exterior spaces in tandem with the structure.

Because SZABO was at the table from the beginning, the pool could be deliberately positioned on the southwest side of the site to capture mountain views and maximize afternoon sun exposure. That decision required knowing both where the building would sit and how the site's gentle slope could be leveraged for a tiered lounge sequence. The result is a resort pool area that feels purposeful, elegant, and in complete harmony with the lodge-style architecture it complements. That outcome is not achievable when landscape design follows building design. It requires both to develop simultaneously.

Centennial Park Expansion, Redmond

SZABO's collaborative approach extends equally to public and civic work. Awarded the Centennial Park Expansion project by the City of Redmond Urban Renewal Agency in 2016, SZABO served as the lead design voice for a park meant to connect a new City Hall building with the existing Centennial Park. The project was as much about civic identity and community ownership as it was about design.

SZABO worked closely with a local task force and facilitated extensive public outreach workshops throughout the iteration process. Community members helped shape the program which included open lawn areas, shaded seating, a public art component, a children's reading memorial, and a performance stage. The result of that sustained collaborative process was a design unanimously approved by the Redmond City Council.

Riverfront Terrace, Bend

When a family came to SZABO for a new riverfront home on the Deschutes River, the project's complexity was matched only by its potential. Working within the City of Bend's stringent Waterway Overlay Zone, SZABO engaged with the project architect from the earliest planning stages to develop a layered landscape of terraces, a spa, an outdoor kitchen and bar, lawn areas, firepit spaces, and privacy screens, all calibrated to strict riparian setbacks while creating a daily living environment that would feel inseparable from both the architecture and the river.

By being present in those early conversations, SZABO could help choreograph how the terraces would step from the building down toward the water's edge, how fencing and screen placement would provide privacy without obscuring river views, and how every element would feel embedded in the site.

Tree Farm Retreat, Bend

Set on a west-facing, two-acre slope in Bend's Tree Farm neighborhood, this retreat was conceived from the earliest design conversations as a series of connected outdoor rooms dissolving into the high desert forest. SZABO collaborated with the architect before a single footprint was fixed, choreographing building placement, circulation, and view corridors together so the home could slip between existing landforms, preserve mature ponderosa pines and native understory, and frame long Cascade Range vistas from every major living space.

That early integration is why the terraces, paths, and walls in the completed project read as extensions of the terrain. Without the landscape and architecture developing in parallel, the siting decisions that make the project work would have defaulted to convention: flatten the site, remove the trees, create a level pad. Instead, the result is a retreat that feels embedded in its natural environment.

From the Client’s Perspective

Early landscape architecture engagement translates into a specific and tangible set of project improvements.

Better design decisions earlier. When SZABO is part of the team as the site plan develops, decisions about building placement, drainage, utilities, and grading take the landscape into account. This produces fewer conflicts, less redesign, and more coherent finished environments.
Cost savings embedded in the design. Changes are inexpensive on paper and exponentially more expensive in the ground. SZABO's early involvement allows site-specific landscape solutions to be engineered into the project budget from the beginning versus value-engineered at the end.
Preservation of what makes the site worth building on. SZABO's emphasis on reading the site before designing the site often means that rock outcroppings, mature trees, view corridors, and topographic character that would otherwise be lost to grading or construction activity are instead incorporated as central design elements, enhancing property value and grounding the project in its place.
Outdoor environments tailored to how people actually live. Because SZABO is in the room when clients are articulating their vision, the outdoor design can be calibrated, functionally, climatically, and aesthetically, to the specific family or occupant.

"Our whole goal is to make the site and architecture complementary and harmonious," says Mike Szabo. SZABO's scope, from hardscapes, site lighting, planting design, and irrigation to grading, drainage, pools, spas, decks, firepits, and outdoor kitchens, is deliberate and reflects the firm's role as a systems thinker on the design team.

SZABO Landscape Architecture is a full-service landscape architectural design firm based in Bend, Oregon, serving residential, commercial, and civic clients throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Learn more at szabo-la.com.