Tavis Dockwiller, Principal
Viridian founder
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Key personnel:
Viridian Landscape Studio Ltd. is a limited liability company founded in 1999 by Tavis Dockwiller and Rolf Sauer (now retired). Tavis and Rolf met in 1995 when Tavis worked for Rolf at his previous firm. After developing a four-year, highly collaborative, fruitful working relationship, they decided to partner to build a new firm. They imagined and created a firm in which they were both actively involved in helping people plan for and create beautiful, ecologically appropriate, enduring places in myriad settings. It is located at 3868 Terrace Street, Philadelphia PA.
Rolf retired in 2008 and today, Tavis is the guiding influence for viridian landscape studio. She has over twenty years of experience in all aspects of master planning and site design. She provides strategic counsel to organizations based on their long-term objectives and is expert in developing consensus between multiple stakeholders, advocating for full client and stakeholder participation. As a result, projects are built from an understanding of long term strategy and strengthened by client investment in design and land stewardship.
Viridian is staffed by a team dedicated to a smooth client process that yields creative, thoughtful designs on time and on budget. Our staff researches site history and ecology, client needs, desires and budget to develop designs and long-term site management strategies. Sustainable design, environmental education and ecological restoration are key components of our work. We believe that problem solving should be fun; client-consultant teams can make a difference to the world both socially and environmentally; and design solutions must be practical and lyrical.
Suzanna Fabry received her BA in Geography from the University of Arizona and her Master of Landscape Architecture from Virginia Tech. Inspired by the beauty of Bucks County’s landscapes and distressed by its transformation from bucolic pastoral farmland to suburban sprawl, Ms. Fabry focused her career on sustainable and low impact design. Her time in the arid Southwest made her keenly aware of the preciousness of our freshwater resources. Ms. Fabry has carried this concern for water resources into her landscape architecture work where she continually seeks approaches to restore the hydrologic process to its pre-development patterns.
From 2000 to 2004 Ms. Fabry worked at WRT where she was exposed to all facets of design, from planning, to architecture, to landscape architecture. Here she gained a strong technical background while working on varied projects such as the award winning HUB Plaza design at Penn State to a native planting plan for the Tom Ridge Environmental Center at Presque Isle Pennsylvania.
In 2005 Ms. Fabry joined Viridian Landscape Studio where she has enjoyed applying her belief in sustainable design to built projects. Projects which Ms. Fabry has functioned as project manager for Viridian are the award winning Kid Zoo U Children’s Zoo & Education Center at the Philadelphia Zoo; Mollie Dodd Anderson Library, Newtown Pa; and Master Plan of the Core for The John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove, Audubon PA.
Suzanna has worked on large scale planning projects such as an environmental impact assessment for a two hundred mile power-line over the Blue Ridge Mountain landscape to intimate courtyard design at the University of Pennsylvania. She has developed site designs which synthesize beauty, function and sustainability. In all of her work Suzanna aims to design for the future generations that will inherit our landscapes.
Suzanna Fabry, Director of Design
Monica Gagliardi received her BS in Psychology from James Madison University and her Master of Landscape Architecture from Temple University. With a passion for learning and inspired by the idea of leaving the world better for the next generation, Monica spent five years working as an elementary schoolteacher, and eight years devoted to fundraising and marketing for Temple University.
Monica believes understanding relationships is the cornerstone of innovation. A strong relationship is more than something we all want, it’s something we need. To be our happiest, healthiest, most productive selves, we must choose to coexist in harmony, ecologically and socially.
She’s learned to read landscape through an inquisitive eye as an explorer, ecologist, psychologist, and to design as a teacher, activist, philanthropist and participant. Identifying, analyzing and understating relationships —macro to micro, natural to built — are the methods used for interpreting systems within a space. It’s through this prism that she distills complexity into responsive and conscious designs that are unconsciously relevant and inspiring.
The PA-DE ASLA and the Honor Society of Sigma Lambda Alpha have recognized her work, earning two General Design Student Honor Awards and a Research Travel Grant to study the postindustrial landscapes of Landschaftspark, Duisburg-Meiderich, Germany.
Monica’s life’s goal is to make a significant positive impact on the world by shifting culture toward a paradigm focused on maximizing ecological health and human potential. The common thread in her work is an emphasis on balanced, healthy relationships and the power of collectiveness — ecological and human, past-present-future, explicit and obscure — all in support of a viable, livable and just future for all.
Monica Gagliardi, Landscape Designer, Marketing Strategist
Victor Trujillo is a capable and broadly experienced design consultant, with a BA from the university of Southern California and an MLA from The University of New Mexico. His interests in public space and sustainable design inform his understanding of the environments we live in.
He is an advocate for the development of vibrant public spaces, and believes in the ability of place-making to engage, connect and nourish. He values creative, responsible and context-sensitive design practices, engaging these principles through his work on both private and public-sector projects. Victor integrates his technical and artistic background with low impact design techniques to create landscapes that reflect local character and values, while his strong understanding of project needs and graphic communication results in a systematic approach to design and construction documentation. His portfolio includes master plans, streetscape improvements, transportation projects, playgrounds, educational landscapes, and environmental graphics.
Victor Trujillo, Landscape Architect
