The 18-year-old design firm announced last month that it will absorb 40-year-old landscape and planning firm SLA Studio Land, Inc. This marriage will result in a combined force of 23 professionals in AR’s Houston office – 37 firmwide – and a homecoming of sorts for Keiji Asakura.
The relationship began in 1983 when “SLA” was Smith Locke Asakura Inc. David Smith, David Locke, and Keiji Asakura had the desire to start a landscape design firm together. After 20 years of successfully collaborating on pivotal projects, Asakura left SLA to open Asakura Robinson with now-partner Margaret Robinson – where they envisioned what our firm is today: a landscape architecture, planning, and urban design firm which strengthens environments and empowers communities through innovation, engagement, stewardship, and an integrated design and planning process.
While SLA Studio Land has specialized in landscape, planning, and urban design projects across the country, the firm’s most notable projects are in Texas, including legacy work such as Houston’s Generation Park, the 203-acre District Plan for College Station’s Medical Urban Core, the Arboretum Master Plan in Austin, and the Moody Gardens Master Plan in Galveston.
The firms’ union will not only be a step toward Asakura Robinson’s overall growth – both in professionals and in clients/communities served – but also a closure for Smith, who is retiring from his active practice and anticipating great success for his firm and his one-time partner.
For more information or to connect with AR for design solutions, please reach out to Marketing Director Amanda Wheeless, amanda@asakurarobinson.com