LPA Design Studios Earns SoCal ASLA Merit Award for Redding Rancheria Tribal Health Village
Landscape design honors land, culture, and ecology while creating a restorative community wellness environment
LPA Design Studios’ landscape architecture team was recently recognized with a Merit Award in the Southern California Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ (SoCal ASLA) annual Quality-of-Life Design Awards for the Redding Rancheria Tribal Health Village, a project that celebrates cultural heritage, ecological restoration, and community wellness.
The award in the Concepts, Ideas and Theories category honors the landscape team’s innovative approach to designing a new 72-acre health and wellness campus for the Redding Rancheria Tribe. In collaboration with tribal leaders, the integrated design team developed a site strategy that responds to the region’s distinctive geography while honoring ancestral connections and natural systems. The design restores native plant communities, enhances opportunities for groundwater recharge, and weaves together spaces that foster physical, mental and spiritual health.
Guided by three key principles — honor the adjacent creek, preserve views to Mount Shasta, and restore the land — the design creates a landscape that is both functional and symbolic. Meandering pathways echo the movement of the creek, connecting gardens, gathering areas, and outdoor wellness spaces. Layered plantings reestablish ecological balance and provide shade and habitat, while stormwater is naturally managed through cobble-lined swales and infiltration zones. The Distributee Garden, honoring the original 17 landowners, exemplifies how landscape architecture can serve as a bridge between cultural expression and environmental stewardship.
“The Redding Rancheria project embodies the power of landscape design to heal both people and the land,” said Kari Kikuta, Director of Landscape Architecture at LPA. “Through collaboration with tribal leaders, we created a design that restores ecological systems and supports community wellness, while reconnecting people with a site of deep ancestral significance.”
The SoCal ASLA Quality-of-Life Design Awards is a biennial celebration of excellence in landscape architecture across the region.
Earlier this year, LPA’s landscape team also earned two Texas ASLA Awards of Merit for Washington Elementary School and the Agnew K-12 Campus at the 2025 Texas ASLA State Convention in Houston. The awards mark the fifth consecutive year that LPA’s landscape team has been recognized with a state-level ASLA honor in Texas.
“These projects reflect our commitment to creating landscapes that are educational, inclusive and deeply connected to place,” said Rich Bienvenu, Director of Landscape Architecture. “It’s rewarding to see our teams recognized for designs that integrate sustainability and human experience at every scale.”
Learn more about Redding Rancheria here
