Housing & Mixed-Use Landscape Design Spokane | PLACE Landscape Architecture
Landscape Design That Makes Housing Feel Like Home
The landscape surrounding a housing development is not decoration — it is the lived environment of the people who call it home. Courtyards, entry sequences, pathways, shared green spaces, street edges, and private outdoor areas all contribute to residents' daily experience of where they live, their sense of safety and belonging, and the long-term quality of the community. PLACE Landscape Architecture's housing and mixed-use design practice in Spokane is built on the conviction that thoughtful landscape design makes housing genuinely better — more livable, more sustainable, more connected to its neighborhood, and more valuable over time.
We work with residential developers, housing authorities, architects, and community development organizations throughout Spokane and Eastern Washington on housing projects that range from single-family infill developments to large multi-family complexes to mixed-use buildings that combine retail, office, and residential uses in walkable urban settings. Our experience across this full spectrum means we understand the specific landscape requirements, opportunities, and constraints of each housing type, and we bring proven design strategies to every new project.
Multi-Family and Mixed-Use Landscape Design
Multi-family housing landscape design requires particular skill at creating meaningful outdoor space within the constraints of shared ownership, limited maintenance budgets, and the competing needs of diverse resident populations. PLACE's designers are experienced at making the most of every square foot of available outdoor space in multi-family settings — designing courtyard and common areas that genuinely invite use and foster community, entry sequences that create a sense of arrival and belonging, pedestrian circulation that is safe, legible, and connects residents to the street and surrounding neighborhood, and private patios and balcony landscapes that give individual residents a sense of personal outdoor space even within a dense development.
Mixed-use developments present additional design challenges and opportunities — the ground-floor retail and commercial uses create active street edges that need to be designed for both pedestrian attraction and operational functionality, while upper-floor residential uses need quiet, private outdoor amenities that provide respite from the activity below. PLACE has designed mixed-use landscapes that navigate this complexity successfully, creating outdoor environments that activate the public realm at the street level while providing genuine quality of life amenities for residents above. Our work on mixed-use projects in Spokane and throughout the Pacific Northwest demonstrates our ability to balance these competing demands with design creativity and technical precision.
Affordable Housing and Community Development
PLACE is committed to bringing high-quality landscape design to housing projects at every price point, including affordable housing developments that serve Spokane's lower-income residents. We believe that great outdoor environments are not a luxury reserved for market-rate or luxury housing — they are a fundamental component of healthy, dignified living environments that every resident deserves. Our experience with affordable housing projects includes working within the tight budget constraints typical of tax credit and grant-funded developments, designing landscapes that are beautiful and functional at installation and remain so with minimal ongoing maintenance investment.
We regularly collaborate with Spokane's community development organizations, housing authorities, and nonprofit developers on projects that are reshaping neighborhoods and creating new opportunities for affordable homeownership and rental housing. This work is among the most meaningful we do — because the landscape environments we create become part of people's daily lives in a direct and intimate way. See our housing portfolio for examples of our residential development work throughout the region.
Walkable, Connected Neighborhood Design
The best housing landscapes don't end at the property line — they connect to the surrounding neighborhood, contribute to the public realm of the street, and integrate with existing or planned pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. PLACE's housing designs consistently think beyond the site boundary, designing street trees and landscaped parkways that improve the pedestrian experience, entry plazas and community spaces that activate the street edge, and connections to adjacent parks, trails, and public amenities that extend residents' access to the broader outdoor environment.
Spokane is investing significantly in walkable, transit-oriented development, and PLACE is proud to be part of that effort through our housing and mixed-use landscape work. If you're a developer, architect, or housing organization planning a residential project in Spokane, we'd welcome the opportunity to discuss how PLACE can contribute to making it exceptional. Contact our Spokane studio at 509-570-2157 or reach us online to get started.
