Introducing Keystone’s Landscape Architecture Team
Keystone Architecture is thrilled to announce the expansion of our service offerings to include landscape architecture. This strategic initiative underscores our unwavering dedication to client satisfaction and our pledge to deliver holistic design solutions that seamlessly blend with built and natural environments.
By providing architectural design, interior design, and now landscape architecture, we excel at delivering a cohesive design across every facet of your development. In addition, this service offering significantly streamlines the design and permitting processes by reducing the time spent on consultant coordination. Ultimately, this process mitigates the risk of project delays, ensuring a more efficient project execution and optimal cost-effectiveness.
In addition, our services are grounded in the principles of environmental stewardship. Whether through green infrastructure, native plantings, or water management strategies, the firm is dedicated to creating landscapes that are not only beautiful but also resilient and ecologically responsible.
Meet the Team
Our landscape architecture team offers a versatile array of talents and expertise to tackle projects of any scale, from intimate gardens to large-scale urban developments.
With over 20 years of combined work experience, Jenn and Derek posses the flexibility to cater to your needs, whether it’s through a minimalist design utilizing cost-effective materials, or an innovative approach incorporating progressive materials and palettes to captivate any audience.
Jennifer Wall, MBCSLA, MAALA, MLA
Registered Landscape Architect / Project Manager
Jennifer brings over 15 years of experience in landscape architecture to our team and is fueled by her ambition to cultivate vibrant outdoor environments that elevate urban living. During her undergraduate studies in geography, Jennifer’s journey commenced with a pivotal visit to a design firm where she discovered an avenue to channel her appreciation for nature within ever-changing urban settings.
Jennifer specializes in designing layered and well-programmed outdoor amenity spaces for multi-family, mixed-use, and townhouse projects. With a keen eye for detail and a strong plant knowledge base, she excels in selecting the proper flora for each environment, ensuring sustainable and visually striking compositions.
Her design philosophy prioritizes visitor experience, enriching spaces through sensory engagement and environmental stewardship, such as pollinator and habitat opportunities. She strives to integrate unique elements, from uncommon plants to outdoor theatres or lending libraries, ensuring that each project is distinctive and balances form and function. Her collaborative approach values the collective expertise of team members, clients, and stakeholders, ensuring positive project outcomes.
Derek VandenBrink, MBCSLA Intern, MLA
Landscape Designer / Project Coordinator
Derek is a seasoned landscape designer with a passion for creating dynamic spaces that foster community interaction and encourage people to interact with nature. His journey began at the age of 15, when he delved into landscape construction, eventually transitioning into the design and consulting realm.
Derek’s expertise lies in urban design, with a focus on site analysis, grading, and retaining wall design for mixed-use and townhouse projects. His design philosophy centers around budget-conscious solutions that draw your attention and fuse functionality with aesthetics. He is careful to ensure that the aesthetic form doesn’t impede its constructability, and that the building and surrounding landscape speak together as a unified solution.
During the design phase, he is receptive to all ideas, recognizing that each stakeholder has unique goals to achieve. He remains dedicated to verifying that his designs positively impact the communities they serve, whether through post-occupancy reviews or visiting sites years later to evaluate their success.
Current Projects
The landscape of Eastleigh Apartments is designed to reflect an industrial, modern, and sleek character with bursts of colour added through plant material, including a canopy of fruit trees with an understorey of edibles. On the second floor, residents can enjoy a BBQ area, workout space, playground, dog run, and a communal fire pit. Due to a primarily northern exposure, a strong emphasis was placed on enhancing the space with lush, shade-loving plants to make the spaces feel inviting and intentional.
56 Avenue Apartments will provide a delightful presence with bold earth tones lighting up the building, complemented by orange, white, and green tones in the landscaping. A strong deciduous tree canopy is proposed to decrease the ambient temperature on the private patios in the summer and allow light to diffuse in the winter. The podium is peppered with several experiences, including a ‘hunting’ themed play area, dining space, a relaxing hammock node, and a peaceful seating area. As an additional treat, most of the planting on the podium is edible.
Mayfair Apartments’ landscape is intended to have sleek lines, playful spaces, nodes for gathering, and separation between uses. The outdoor amenities include a dog run, sand pit play area with chalk and whiteboards, gameplay designs in the paving pattern, a play kitchen within a conifer grove, raised edible gardens, and clustered seating throughout. The architectural palette’s rich navy hue extends into the landscape through site furnishings and plant choices.
The design intent for Northview Church is to provide opportunities for gathering and movement. With two primary entrances at opposite ends of the building, the exterior spaces needed to provide connection and flow from one entrance to the other. Outside, an outdoor amphitheatre provides interest with grade change and serves as a stormwater catchment area. Additionally, a sizable playground and planters with 10’ wide tapered benches and angular concrete benches allow for an array of engagement opportunities.
To learn more about our comprehensive landscape architectural services, we invite you to connect with us through our dedicated contact page.
