About
Successful landscapes are shaped by the people who use them.
Our process relies on close collaboration, where we listen first; drawing on the aspirations of the client while offering lessons learned from past projects to create places that feel both considered and lived-in.
Comfort is often found in familiar forms and elements that people recognize and trust. We stay true to the local vernacular, crafting with regional materials that are rooted and enduring so that each landscape belongs to its place and grows more meaningful with time.
Woods Landscape Architecture is based in the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of Western New York and is led by Steve Woods, a landscape architect with over three decades of creative design practice in both public and private landscapes of varying scales.
Named by the ASLA Professional Practice Network in 2017 as one of “Landscape Architecture’s greatest unknown landscape architects”, his passion rests in the merging of art, history, community, and function.
Steve has had the privilege to be a key team member and design leader at multiple award winning firms including, Carol Johnson Associates (CRJA), IBI | Placemaking, Trowbridge Wolff Michaels (TWMLA), and Agency Landscape and Planning to name a few. Within those groups, he has had the opportunity to collaborate with amazing design firms including Elkus Manfredi, CBT, Vinoly, Rockwell Group, and Heatherwick Studios.
Steve has provided award winning collaborative leadership in the unique design and visioning for a wide variety of clients and communities. Areas of experience include design leadership for corporate headquarters, hospitality and entertainment venues, mixed-use urban developments, and private residential projects.
Professional registrations include New York and Ohio
Awards and Achievements
INHS Board of Directors: 2023 – Present
Visiting Critic: Cornell Spring MLA Studio / Thesis - 2024, 2025
Visiting Critic:Harvard GSD Fall Studio - 2022
Design Juror: Boston Society of Landscape Architects Awards – 2021
Ball State College of Architecture and Planning Executive Advisory Board : 2020 –2022
Boston Architectural College: Overseer 2009 – 2013
Boston Freedom House: Champions of Freedom - Inspire: Next Generation Award Winner - 2011
Boston Architectural College: Design Studio Instructor – 2011
Design Juror Boston Society of Architects: Un-Built Architecture Design Awards, 2008
Panelist / Speaker: Build Boston, Boston Youth Explore Design, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Citizen Schools WOW: Celebrity Judge, 2007, 2009
National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMA):Ball State CAP Chapter, Founding Member and Vice President – 1992
Sigma Lambda Alpha, Landscape Architecture Honorary Society: 1991-1996
Paverlock Urban Design Award: 1996
ASLA Certificate of Merit:1996