We were thrilled to see some of our work featured in Dwell as part of their yearlong 25th-anniversary celebration of the people, places, and ideas they have championed over the years. The work featured in Indianapolis including the Georgia Street renovation, City Market redevelopment, and Monument Circle transformation is the result of many leaders collaborating for years to make downtown Indianapolis a great city to live, work and play. You can read the article and explore what other cities are doing to transform their downtowns here.
Join Our Team!
Merritt Chase is currently seeking an Associate Landscape Architect with approximately 3-5 years of experience to join our team. We are looking for a thoughtful Landscape Architect who is collaborative, has excellent design sensibilities, and a strong technical background. The ideal applicant will be located in our Indianapolis office.
More information about the position can be found here.
Canal Basin Park wins Ohio ASLA Award of Excellence!
The City of Cleveland, Canalway Partners, and Merritt Chase are pleased to announce that the Ohio Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (OCASLA) has awarded the 2025 Award of Excellence to Canal Basin Park!
The OCASLA Award is a wonderful recognition of the collective work of so many people in Cleveland. We could not be more thrilled to share the process and the project with the landscape architecture community. Thank you to the OCASLA jury and team.
Nina Chase featured in Madame Architect
In a recent interview, Julia Gamolina of Madame Architect, talks with Nina Chase about the importance of public spaces, seeing futures, and making local contributions.
“As landscape architects, we also have the unique ability to see spaces through time. Trees grow, cities morph, climates change. Our work has to anticipate change over time and design for it.”
Check out the article here.
North Shore Plaza Construction Continues!
Construction progress continues on the new North Shore Plaza in Pittsburgh as we work toward an anticipated opening in the Spring of 2026.
The plaza will create a new entertainment destination and social gathering space in Pittsburgh. The plaza is designed for large events and programming but also provides much needed public green space for the North Shore community. Small garden areas with large shade trees frame the plaza with wood platforms and moveable seating allowing flexible uses throughout the year.
The project team includes the Pittsburgh Pirates, HiLife Hospitality, Sports and Exhibition Authority, Barker Nestor, Langan, and Continental Building Company. Photos by Kristian Thacker.
Can Pop-up Urbanism Spark Lasting Design Legacy?
For Azure Magazine Nina Chase and Chris Merritt explored what has become a guiding ethos for our work at Merritt Chase - that we should be reimagining how we see and approach temporary placemaking (or whatever else you want to call it - tactical urbanism, DIY city-building, or pop-up urbanism) both as an opportunity to bring meaningful design to the placemaking process and for its potential as one of the most useful tools communities and designers have to drive long term transformation of public spaces.
“As landscape architects, we’re increasingly emphasizing an approach that integrates innovative short term design, activation and research with traditional long term planning and design — as seen through our projects like Monument Circle. Our work spans from long-term, built landscape projects to short-term activations, temporary installations, and community engagements. This holistic approach is intended to ensure that the public spaces we create are shaped by research, history, and meaningful community input. What does this design process look like? What can the long-term impacts be?“
Check out the full article here.
Chris Merritt and Nina Chase talk to The Urbanist
Chris and Nina sat down with Andrew Tuck from Monocle Radio’s The Urbanist to discuss how cities across Middle America are transforming their streets. Check out the episode here.
Summer Promotions!
We are excited to share summer promotions for our office. Congratulations and thank you Alex, Craig, Gabi, and Danica! These four are incredibly talented, thoughtful and creative, and a true pleasure to work with.
Alex Kelley, Senior Associate - Alex has been leading the design and implementation of the Indianapolis City Market West Plaza, White River Farm, Canal Basin Park, and the Park at 16 Tech.
Craig Rowe, Senior Associate - Craig has been leading the design of the Treeline District Park in Fort Wayne and construction of Georgia Street in Indianapolis.
Gabriella Rodriguez, Senior Designer - Gabi has been leading the design of the Columbus Downtown Entrance Plaza and West End Bridge Connector Parks in Pittsburgh.
Danica Liongson, Associate - Danica is a newly licensed landscape architect in Indianapolis and has been managing continued work on Monument Circle, the Park at 16 Tech, and Monumental Gestures, a new public art initiative in downtown Indianapolis.
Check out our About page for more background on the team.
Nina Chase joins 2025 ASLA Student Awards Jury
Earlier this summer, Nina Chase joined the 2025 Jury for the American Society of Landscape Architects Student Awards. The ASLA Honors and Awards Advisory Committee “seeks to assemble juries that represent the breadth of the profession, including private, public, institutional, and academic practice, and exemplify diversity in professional experience, geography, gender, and ethnicity.” Nina served on the jury to review the Analysis & Planning, Communications, Research, & Student Collaboration submissions. Congratulations to all the 2025 Student Award Winners!
Merritt Chase Selected for 2025 Architect's Newspaper Best of Practice Awards
Merritt Chase has been recognized as the 2025 Midwest Landscape Architect Best of Practice Award winner by the Architect’s Newspaper. This annual program seeks to celebrate a breadth and merit of firms, including architects, contractors, sustainability and façade consultants, engineers, fabricators, interior designers, developers, and landscape architects, to spotlight those who not only champion an aesthetic vision, but also social and sustainable goals.
Throughout the entries, winners, and jury deliberations for the 2025 edition, an emphasis on employee wellbeing and a studio’s impact on the industry at large and local communities remained top of mind for many. Many of the companies that stood out to the jury impressively leveraged scale, expertise, and influence for larger endeavors like conducting further impactful research, empowering other generations, and finding solutions for new, global challenges.
Juror and Superbloom co-founder Diane Lipovsky noted, “The firm is really committed to positive social impact and helping their region. The practice does a lot of research and work on Appalachia and how they can contribute to the regeneration of those areas.” We are thrilled to be recognized among so many of our inspiring peers.