orwell

costa mesa, Ca

THE ORWELL is a creative campus reimagined—an industrial site transformed into a regenerative landscape that bridges infrastructure with ecology. Nestled at the edge of the Newport Bay watershed, the project takes a bold step toward healing the urban fabric through layered interventions in both hardscape and softscape.

In collaboration with WALKS Studio and Hilco, we explored how a commercial site could do more than serve—it could restore. The landscape framework weaves together native sponge gardens, reused urbanite planters, and groves of canopy trees that soften the hardscape while offering shade, scale, and seasonal beauty.

Guided by the site’s solar rhythms and coastal winds, the design introduces a new kind of urban nature—where low-water planting supports biodiversity, and water is slowed, captured, and invited back into the ground. These interventions are quiet but powerful, turning what was once a vehicle-centric environment into a pedestrian-friendly refuge for people, pollinators, and birds alike.

The Orwell is a testament to the idea that even the most utilitarian landscapes can pulse with life. It’s a vision of big nature at a campus scale—resilient, welcoming, and deeply rooted in place.

This project came to life through close collaboration with WALKS Studio and Hilco, who also led the installation on-site with care and craft.