Newsiest of News
25 YEARS AND COUNTING: This year marks Lakota’s 25th anniversary, and we are celebrating with a #LAKOTA25 CAMPAIGN. A series of blog posts on the 25th of each month highlight the range of work we have done over the past 25 years, and what’s ahead for Lakota. Be on the lookout for social media posts... Read More
Categories: Around the Office
2018 Promotions
The Lakota Group is excited to announce the promotions of two of our long-time team members: KEVIN CLARK, PLA AICP joined Lakota in 2005 and has been serving as our Director of Design since 2015. As a newly-promoted Principal, Kevin will continue to oversee all design aspects of the firm, as well as lead urban... Read More
Categories: Around the Office
Biomimicry & Community Engagement: What Nature Can Teach Us About Building Strong Communities
Here at The Lakota Group, we’ve been talking about how to best engage communities so that the projects we work on are truly community driven. This conversation has been happening simultaneously with a personal exploration of biomimicry and how it can be applied to urban planning. Biomimicry is the practice of looking to nature to... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Ideas + Research
A Return to Democratic Space
So much discussion in recent months has focused on the division in our country; a discord that has played out across multiple platforms, including news outlets, social media, public protests, massive marches, and town hall meetings. In the midst of these events, I’ve looked back on the places I’ve visited and worked—red and blue states,... Read More
Categories: Around the Office
Welcoming the New Lakotans
We are very excited to welcome the New Lakotans! Jonathan Smith – Senior Landscape Architect Siraj Asfahani – Associate Rachael Smith – Associate Our Team is growing and we couldn’t be more excited about our new additions. Read More
Categories: Around the Office
Lakota’s New Look: New Brand, New Vibe
We at Lakota pride ourselves on being able to listen to folks, synthesize what we hear about their values, histories and goals, and then pull it all together into a creative whole. So when faced with the need to take a deep look at our own Lakota brand, it was a rare chance to sit... Read More
Categories: Around the Office
Milwaukee Redux – the 2016 Main Street Now Conference
Every morning this past month of May, I’ve mistakenly typed “mainst” into my laptop computer password field at work. Such an annoying occurrence — it was my old password from the laptop I had while working for the National Main Street Center so many years ago. But I know why I was doing it —... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Ideas + Research
Movin’ On Up!
The Lakota Group celebrates its hard-working team members and their new titles. Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Awards + Accolades
CNU-IL and AIA-Chicago Host “Tactical Urbanism Slam”
On Thursday May 7th at the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), Kyle Smith of CNT and Ian Sisson of The Lakota Group co-hosted a “Tactical Urbanism Slam” with their respective organizations, the Congress for New Urbanism – Illinois Chapter (CNU-IL), and the American Institute of Architects Chicago Chapter (AIA Chicago). The event featured eight speakers with... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Awards + Accolades, Ideas + Research
Daniel Speaks at 2014 Mississippi River Conference
Daniel has been invited to speak this week at the 2014 Mississippi River Conference in Moline about a web-based forum for community dialog that Lakota recently helped some wonderful long-term clients establish. For almost 20 years Lakota has worked closely with the Quad Cities community and with River Action, a Davenport-based organization that advocates for... Read More
Categories: Around the Office
CANstruction: The Lakota Group Gorilla Wins the People’s Choice Award!
Did you happen to notice an 8-foot tall silverback gorilla tromping through the Merchandise Mart recently? Then you may have seen the CANstruction Chicago 2014 entry designed and built by The Lakota Group and its teammates Valenti Builders and Myefski Architects. “CANsanova Knuckle-Crushes Hunger,” took home the People’s Choice Award as well as the ribbon... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Awards + Accolades
Battling Hunger with Creative Muscle
You may have noticed them if you’ve walked through the Merchandise Mart sometime in late August through early September. They stand about 10 feet tall and resemble anything from a waterfall to Garfield to a hotdog. Of course, we are talking about Chicago’s annual CANstruction event. For the past several years, Chicago’s leading AEC firms... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Uncategorized
Visiting Detroit at the 2014 National Main Street Conference
It’s been quite a while since I’ve written a blog post – more than a year in fact. Well, I thought I’d make up for my extended absence from the keyboard by chronicling my attendance at the National Main Street Conference, held this year in Detroit – the “Motor City!” – a place I’d come... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Ideas + Research
Photos: Lakota Hosts Happy Hour for APA Conference
The American Planning Association recently held its national conference in Chicago and for the special occasion, we held a happy hour to bring together our friends in the planning world. While the location of the event was originally planned for our office courtyard, we moved it inside because it was a tad bit chilly (just... Read More
Categories: Around the Office
Transit-Oriented Downtown Evanston
Abutting Chicago’s North Side, Evanston has developed a reputation as a desirable, transit-oriented community that promotes economic growth without compromising its unique sense of place. For the APA’s National Planning Conference being held in Chicago from April 13-17, Kevin Clark, Lakota Group vice president, will give a tour of Evanston’s mixed-used downtown and will talk... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Ideas + Research, In The News
A Few Brews
Just before the holidays, a few of us at Lakota got together at my house to eat some pizza and brew a little beer. It was a fairly cold night to be brewing on my back deck, but with a few layers and a few…umm, beverages, we were able to stay warm and complete several... Read More
Categories: Around the Office
Happy Holidays!
This photo was taken by Daniel Grove, associate principal at The Lakota Group. The image was taken in the Pleasant District of historic downtown Oak Park, Ill., where The Lakota Group did the streetscape design using a rich variety of materials, such as natural stone, brick street/sidewalk paving, custom site furnishings, a central water feature,... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Project Stories
Bike Sharing is Coming to Chicago
Here at The Lakota Group, we have a few employees who ride their bikes regularly to work (Megan and Jason), so we were happy to hear that Chicago is bringing bike love to everyone come Spring 2013. The Chicago Department of Transportation is asking anyone who is interested to post on a map where he... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Ideas + Research
My Life With the Bagpipes
This blog post is not my usual, straight-laced update posting on Lakota projects and happenings. Nope, it’s not even my customary musings about some cool, forlorn old buildings I happened to come across during a work assignment. This time around, I thought I’d write about my quirky but somewhat intriguing (to some) little hobby, one... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Uncategorized
Thinking Big for a Backyard Redesign
The Challenge Very few professions elicit requests for help from family, friends and–let’s face it– acquaintances, like landscape architecture does. At some point, essentially every person I have known has asked me some form of this question: “Can you (show me a few ideas/tell me what’s wrong with this tree/pick out some plants/completely redesign) my... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Project Stories
Tour de Cincinnati
I recently had the opportunity to spend a long weekend back in my hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Every time I take a trip back I’m eager to experience the slow, but steady, revitalization of downtown and the near neighborhoods. This time, it was a little bit more exciting because I was hauling my bike... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Ideas + Research
The Power of Community — Green Apple Day of Service
I recently spent my Saturday participating in the Green Apple Day of Service program, organized by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). I had volunteered months back and had been paired with a school that was requesting professional assistance. In this case, I became partnered with two adjacent schools in Blue Island that were... Read More
Categories: Around the Office
Change–The Only Constant at the Lurie Garden
Last year, I had the opportunity to intern at the Lurie Garden in Chicago’s Millennium Park, designed by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol and Piet Oudolf. While working in the garden, I was reminded daily of a design element that distinguishes the practice landscape architecture from other design disciplines –change in the landscape over time. Completed in... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Ideas + Research
Historic Theaters and Revitalizing Traditional Commercial Districts – Recent Lakota Work
Over the past year, the Lakota Group has had a full plate of work with challenging commercial district planning work in three very distinct communities and neighborhoods – the Six Corners commercial district in Chicago’s ethnically diverse northwest side; downtown Kenosha, Wisconsin, once one of the state’s most bustling industrial hubs; and Momence, Illinois, a small... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Ideas + Research, In The News, Project Stories
Neighborhoods, Master Plans and Tivoli Lights: An End of The Year Lakota Group Update
An old Lakota Sioux proverb says that it takes a thousand voices to tell a single story. We thought it would be a good opportunity to provide a brief update on our project portfolio – projects that showcase the depth and talent of our team of planners and designers. From all of us at Lakota, we... Read More
Categories: Around the Office, Project Stories
Welcome to the Lakota Group Blog
“It is observed that in any great endeavor, it is not enough for a person to depend on himself” – Lakota proverb. The Lakota Sioux Native-Americans of the Great Plains lived their lives according to the ideals of community, cooperation, generosity and strength. For the Lakota, strong communities are not possible without cooperation, trust and... Read More
Categories: Around the Office