PETERSEN STUDIO is a landscape architecture and planning practice committed to creating engaging and enduring places that are rooted within their cultural and environmental contexts. 

About

 

Each project is imbued with our commitment to design, craft and sustainability, and is realized as a reflection of the Client’s goals and distinct project opportunities.  We passionately create landscapes that enhance and enrich users’ lives, while advancing our shared culture – a passion applied equally to projects of all scales, from individual residences to urban parks enjoyed by millions of visitors.

PETERSEN STUDIO has the expertise to deliver the most complex and challenging landscape architecture projects, including fast-track projects like $53M Discovery Green in downtown Houston.  Many of our urban projects include on-structure landscapes or roof gardens requiring specialized knowledge, technical detailing, and careful coordination with project architects and engineers.  We have worked with a diverse range of private owners, developers, and public agency clients across multiple sectors; institutional, corporate, academic, multi-family residential, public parks and plazas.  

We foster highly collaborative interdisciplinary relationships with design team architects, engineers, artists, ecologists, soil scientists, economists, and O&M specialists to realize the broad potential of each project.  This interdisciplinary approach allows us to develop and evolve high-performance design solutions supported by technical and scientific expertise.   Our process is both creatively intuitive and technically rational. 

PETERSEN STUDIO is a California Corporation and San Francisco Local Business Enterprise founded by Jacob Petersen in 2014, following 14 years with Hargreaves Associates’ San Francisco Office, during which he was Principal-in-Charge of many of the firm’s most significant and challenging urban parks and landscapes.      

Jacob Petersen

RLA, ASLA, Principal

Jacob Petersen founded PETERSEN STUDIO in 2014. Significant leadership experience within all phases of project design and implementation allows Jacob to effectively integrate research and design vision with high-quality technical detailing to deliver iconic and enduring landscapes.

During Jacob's 14-year tenure with Hargreaves Associates, he was Principal-in-Charge of many of the firm’s award-winning, national-profile landscape architecture and planning projects. Notable public projects include Discovery Green, Houston’s 12-acre $53M central park, enjoyed annually by over a million visitors, Belo Garden in the heart of downtown Dallas, Elizabeth Caruthers Park in Portland’s bustling South Waterfront District, San Diego’s $49M Waterfront Park, and the Austin Federal Courthouse. Private landscapes include the $330M Burlingame Point Campus, ResMed’s Corporate Campus in San Diego, The Infinity in San Francisco's SOMA district, Vespr high-rise residential development in downtown Oakland, and ParkView West, a hybrid high-rise residential and park project in Chicago. Jacob thrives in collaborative teams with fluid dialogue of ideas and perspectives.