Tree People Center for Community Forestry

Development of a conference center, offices, residence and a garage/recycling center with a 3.5-acre outdoor gathering space, water features, and a sustainable parking lot for TreePeople a non-profit who inspire and support the people of Southern California to come together to plant and care for trees, harvest the rain, and renew depleted landscapes.

The design was inspired by the surrounding landscape of the Santa Monica Mountains and blurs the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces. Project sustainable civil design highlights include permeable pavement and an extensive on-site rainwater harvesting system. The rainwater harvesting system includes a 70-foot diameter, 8 feet deep 216,000-gallon underground concrete cistern where, after pre-treatment, the collected storm runoff from the building roof and parking areas is stored. The cistern water is used for irrigating the grounds during the dry months, covering close to a 100% of the site annual irrigation needs.

Read more about the amazing things TreePeople is doing for the community.