ABOUT

What we do:

We design trails, streets, plantings, pavilions, creeks, parks, play environments, new towns, interpretative exhibits, green infrastructure and waterfronts, almost everything not inside a building. Our work has been built across the US and beyond, we know how to get projects built within budget, around site constraints and reflecting a client’s vision.

How we work:

We doodle and sketch, it lets us explore ideas and it’s how great ideas are born and nurtured. We are resourceful using common materials in exciting ways, within limited budgets with lots of constraints. We Listen closely, the ideas and needs of others are always the source of inspiration and lead to meaningful results. We create responsible solutions that are economically, socially and environmentally appropriate. Our work is derived from extensive research is the foundation of our work. By working with us, you will benefit from a commitment to personal service, decades of experience and receive a very responsive project.

Who We Are:

Matthew S. Gaber, Founder

Matthew is a visionary landscape architect with a keen awareness of what it takes to create meaningful, innovative and responsible work. A Berkeley native and graduate of UC Berkeley, Matthew knew as a child he wanted to shape the natural environment for the benefit of human welfare and natural ecosystems. After working several years as a journeyman landscape architect, he felt the need to learn more about the theoretical and artistic origins of landscape architecture. Taking an M.A. from Harvard, Matthew gained the intellectual and conceptual skills necessary to elevate his work. Over several decades, Matthew has applied these skills and intellectual capabilities across the US and beyond on diverse sites, for a wide range of clients.

Bryan Cantwell, Principal

Bryan Cantwell has 20 years of experience, working at both a local and international scale. His work focuses on the integration public space, infrastructure, and ecological systems, with projects spanning a broad range of typologies, including urban design, public parks, waterfront development, and transportation and bicycle infrastructure.

Locally, Bryan has performed considerable work on public projects, including the Emeryville Marina and the new School for Landscape Architecture at U.C. Davis. Internationally, his work includes a new public park in Barcelona, a 55 acre on-structure landscape for sixty 30-story residential towers serving 15,000 people in Zhuhai, China, and prototype cultural centers to be used throughout Chile. Most recently, he led the design for a floating mixed-use village in a central Bangkok waterway, containing 43 housing units, 58 separate retail buildings, a museum, and a one-acre park, all built atop floating structures.

Bryan’s work has been widely recognized and published internationally, leading to estudioOCA being included in the Top‘ 5 to Watch ’by the UK Landscape Institute in 2012, and has been an invited critic to design reviews at leading universities.