About

A practice grounded in the essential materials of topography and plants, for the creation of functional and meaningful places.

SOFT SCAPE Landscape Architecture was founded by Sarah Siegel BCSLA CSLA ASLA in 2025. Sarah most recently was a principal at Hapa Collaborative, where she worked for fourteen years and contributed to many of the firm’s signature projects such as the Foot of Lonsdale Plaza and šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl'e7énḵ Square. She started her career at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates in Brooklyn, where she was involved with work on the Lower Don Lands in Toronto as well as projects in New York such as Jacob Javitz Plaza and The Brooklyn Botanic Garden.Sarah’s knowledge from 20+ years of experience as a Landscape Architect are bolstered by her work and training as a horticulturist and garden designer as well as her art practice.Sarah is a well-rounded designer with a creative eye for big ideas grounded in a strong commitment to practical and collaborative decision making. SOFT SCAPE is a continuation of Sarah's practice, bringing landscape-based thinking to the Vancouver region. We aim to create urban landscapes which take nature as inspiration both in how they function and how they formally integrate into the city - with a bold calmness.

How we work

Whether working for municipalities, institutions, or for private gardens, the process begins with understanding the goals, the challenges, the priorities for the project. Sometimes, often, this is not fully known when a designer is hired. We enjoy the process of figuring out what the project is right from the beginning. This can mean designing a public process for a park project, or creating collages for a private client. And while it is important to lay this ground work when starting on a design, it is also to be expected that the rules change mid-game. New challenges or opportunities arise, new ideas emerge, project realities change... From our experience, we approach project management with an expectation for these inevitabilities. We design with an eye for flexibility, rather than getting stuck on one idea or one way to handle a problem. When faced with new realities, we go back and look at our original goals and priorities - have they changed? Is our design still well poised for success? We like to help our clients navigate a design process without unnecessary drama, all while ensuring we are not missing opportunities for impactful design.

Page updated

Report abuse