Ecological Landscapes

Engaging Ecology

We believe that creating vibrant, walkable, urban communities helps to preserve prime agricultural farmland and wild places. But that doesn't mean that urban communities need to live in concrete jungles. We work to preserve green-fields and in restoring ecology and ecological function through urban forests, green infrastructure, bioswales, green roofs, and urban parks, playgrounds, and trail systems. Incorporating ecology and ecological function into your landscape project offers the following benefits:

Reduced urban heat island effect through vegetative cover

Improved air quality

Reduced runoff

Stormwater management, filtration, and infiltration

Expanded wildlife habitats

Pollinator-friendly plantings

Waterwise site improvements

Opportunities for human connection to nature

Passive solar heating and cooling strategies for buildings

Start My Project

Before we get started, please tell us more about your project! If we determine that your project is a good fit for our expertise, someone from our team will be in touch with you about the next steps within 1-2 business days.

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Our Projects

Oasis Community Garden

Apr 2011

Gibson Residence

Mar 2012

White Dome

Apr 2013

The Healy House

Feb 2015

Women’s Council Butterfly Healing Garden

Feb 2016

Apr 2016

Mar 2017

Feb 2018

Feb 2018

Dec 2018

Jan 2019

Feb 2019

On the River’s Edge Competition

Feb 2019

Knox School

Feb 2020

Jefferson Community

Feb 2020

Community Design - Platform Landscapes Cover

Platforms Landscape

Dec 2020

Expertise

Io LandArch works to make all of our projects more sustainable using ecological principals. Our range of green infrastructure and ecological planning services includes:

Waterwise Design

We design with native and drought-tolerant vegetation and vegetative plant communities in mind.

Green Infrastructure

We can plan and design green roofs, green walls, bio-swales, and rain-gardens utilizing the natural function of vegetation to provide a range of ecosystem services.

Nature Preservation

We work to identify ecological landscapes in need of preservation and/or restoration, and provide opportunities for appropriate access and interpretation.

Permaculture

We advocate for sustainable, small-scale, localized food production, and the preservation of existing farmland in our practice.

What our clients are saying...

Sara Meess

IO LandArch has successfully provided a variety of services for Ogden City – from documenting historic landscapes to preparing the master plan for a major redevelopment project. IO created the design concept for the Ogden Business Exchange, a redevelopment project that is transforming a historic but vacant stockyard into a state-of-the-art business park. Io’s design weaves in the rich history of the site and its proximity to natural amenities to create a truly unique sense of place..

Sharen Hauri

Io has been a tremendous help to the City of South Salt Lake as they have worked over the years to help plan and design numerous city buildings and parks. We are grateful for this consistency and reliability as we complete many projects in phases. Io’s attention to detail and quality and willingness to listen to our needs ensures we are always happy with the end product.

Amy Jorgensen

I absolutely love working with Io! They are smart, insightful, and excellent at what they do. Their team is keenly attuned to the relationships between history, place and design - and work closely with clients to build a plan that is responsive and visionary. A pleasure to work with, Io brings the best work to the table, I give them my highest recommendation.

Venessa Castagnoli | Executive Director

Ogden Contemporary Arts were lucky enough to work with io Landarch on our outdoor sculpture park, PLATFORMS. Shalae was critical to pulling off this community project. She offered their services as an in-kind donation and even went as far as recommending volunteer options, as we are a nonprofit with limited funds. The outcome was astonishing. What was once a lot of overgrown weeds, chain-link, and trash, is now a welcoming park scattered with beautiful native plants and whimsical winding pathways. Ogden is lucky to have such a community-oriented landscape architecture firm in our community.

The Pingree Mansion

Io LandArch custom-designed my solar-carport. They even got approval from the historic landmark commission where I live (which would have been a headache to do on my own). It turned out beautifully. It’s as much work of art as it is carport and fit my budget. I’m very happy with the results and highly recommend them.

By Rebecca Sato