McNiel Works
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Services
McNiel Works is a full-service Landscape Architecture firm.
At McNiel Works we are PLACEMAKERS: Our highest aspiration is to integrate nature, culture and the experience of the user into a design that meets the needs of client and site.
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Programming and Project Definition
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Cultural Resource Analysis and Evaluation
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Historic Preservation
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Sustainable Design
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Planning
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Visual Assessment
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Feasibility/Suitability Studies
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Site Design
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Planting Design
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Irrigation Design
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Presentation Graphics and Publications
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Meeting Facilitation
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Education
Residential Design
McNiel Works designs at the residential scale to help homeowners and others with developing comprehensive landscape plans that meet the exact needs and desires of the client. The project might include products such as a master plan for a particular site and home, or might be for City, County or Home Owner's Association (HOA) review purposes, or as a basis for contractor quotes. Landscape Architects are licensed by the state and have many years of education and on-the boards experience in solving problems that others who design home landscapes can't by law, solve. These include drainage and landform modification, construction detailing and specification writing.
We provide the research on client preferences, site and climatic conditions and use 21st century methods to help you create a supportive and visually exciting and coherent set of spaces within which to live a full indoor-outdoor California lifestyle.
Sustainable Design
Food, Drought, Water, Air, Pests, Fertilizer, Organic, Locally sourced, etc.
Site Analysis
Services include site analysis assistance including development of site maps with topography and completing inventories of existing features, both natural and cultural. Assistance with topography includes slope analysis, grading plans and hydrological designs including rain gardens and catch-hold & release systems. We can also provide assistance with interpreting and addressing ADA standards, and provide visual impact analyses including accurate photo-realistic visual simulations and conceptual and technical sketches and perspectives. We can assist with solar design, sun-shade pattern analysis and review of plans for public safety, water-use efficiency and compliance, and provide strategies to meet governmental structural, aesthetic and environmental requirements.
Historic Preservation
McNiel Works places great importance on the historic environment and are experienced in inventory, analysis, planning and design for neighborhoods, parks, commercial and mixed-use projects as well as historic architecture and designed landscapes. We develop guidelines, plans and designf for the preservation, management and reconstruction of historic sites and their resources.
We have the abiltiy and experience to work within the standards of the National Register of Historic Places and to design to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Resource restoration or adaptive re-use.
At the residential scale, we advise clients of the appropriateness of designs where the intent is to create a period landscape to match the house or neighborhood patterns. Projects that respect and preserve the past. Preservation is the number one most effective method for recycling natural and cultural landscapes, communities, buildings and gardens. McNiel Works has experience in preservation projects ranging from historic residential sites to entire historic towns and large scaled, state-wide projects creating planning policy for recreation residences and historic agricultural landscapes, structures and features.
Projects that respect and preserve the past. Preservation is the number one most effective method for recycling natural and cultural landscapes, communities, buildings and gardens. McNiel Works has experience in preservation projects ranging from historic residential sites to entire historic towns and large scaled, state-wide projects creating planning policy for recreation residences and historic agricultural landscapes, structures and features.
We design in various historic "styles" such as Victorian (Greek Revival, Italianate, Colonial Revial, Chatoesque, Queen Ann), early 20th Century (Craftsman, Tudor, French, Classical Revival, Beaux Artes) and the many incarnations of Modern (International, Decco, Frank Lyoid Wright) and finally, contemporary styles (Calif. Ranch, Spanish, Italian, French, Post Modern, Deconstructionist). We specialize in blending modern comfort and ease of maintenance with an historically appropriate home landscape.
Conceptual Design Services
Although usually, a part of the overall design process, quicker conceptual sketches can also guide design thinking in a variety of ways. Through sketches, diagrams and sketch plans, various solutions and ideas can be quickly and economically tested and modified until a final solution evolves. These drawings may also have a "life of their own," serving as models pertaining to similar projects, or serving as "promotional" material to aid the homeowner in selling his or her home.
Professional Assistance to Designers, Contractors and Homeowner Associations
McNiel Works is a California licensed Landscape Architecture firm and offers a variety of services to assist landscape designers, landscape contractors, developers, homeowner associations and government agencies.
We provide review services for homeowner associations (HOAs) and neighborhood CC&Rs and can provide expert testimony and professional opinions. We have broad experience with historic preservation related projects including historic surveys, Determinations of Eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places (DOEs) and professional estimates of design compliance with historic guidelines and funding requirements. To assist the contractor or homeowner, McNiel Works can prepare grading plans, dimensioned layout plans, irrigation plans, sun/shade calculations, and ensure stormwater compliance with the City of Sacramento, as well as compliance with AB 1881.