Mitchel Houses
LAYERING LIFE INTO AN ESTABLISHED LANDSCAPE
Multifamily Residential
As part of a comprehensive building renovation by The Benjamin Companies, this 14-building apartment campus in East Meadow presented a unique design challenge: how to enhance a landscape that already possessed a strong foundation. The site's mature deciduous canopy provided excellent shade and established character, but the ground plane offered little to engage residents in their daily walks between home, parking, and community spaces. Working within the practical constraints of an active residential campus and the client's focus on long-term maintenance efficiency, our role was to thoughtfully layer new plantings that would create year-round interest while respecting the existing ecosystem.
-
Clients: The Benjamin Companies
Completion Date: 2023
Square footage:
Acre:
Collaborators:
Tim Hill Photography
BUILDING BENEATH THE CANOPY
The existing mature trees created a valuable but challenging framework for new plantings. Their established root systems and seasonal shade patterns dictated where and what could successfully grow. Rather than competing with this canopy, we developed a layered approach that works in partnership with the existing trees. Evergreen foundation plantings like Compact Hinoki False Cypress and Japanese Holly now provide consistent structure around building edges, creating visual softness year-round while respecting the mature root zones above. This strategic approach allows the new landscape to feel integrated rather than imposed, building upon the site's natural assets.
Features
Multifamily Residential. Public Courtyard. Native Planting. Commercial Development. Planting Design. Streetscape Design.
ORCHESTRATING SEASONAL RHYTHM
Residents expressed a desire for more color and visual interest throughout the year, particularly given their daily interaction with the landscape. We developed a carefully choreographed sequence of blooms and foliage changes that extends from early spring through late fall. Heritage River Birch and Kousa Dogwood provide spring awakening, while summer brings the vibrant blues of Catmint and the cheerful faces of Black-eyed Susan. As the season progresses, late bloomers like Butterfly Bush and Autumn Joy Stonecrop carry interest into fall and winter. This temporal design ensures that residents experience their landscape as a dynamic, ever-changing environment rather than static decoration.
SUPPORTING ECOLOGICAL RESILIENCE
Plant selection prioritized species that could thrive in Long Island's variable conditions while supporting local wildlife. Native choices like Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed Susan), Monarda (Bee Balm), and Echinacea (Coneflower) create habitat for pollinators and seed sources for birds, while climate-adapted selections like Butterfly Bush and Vitex extend the blooming season for beneficial insects. These plants were chosen not only for their ecological value but also for their proven ability to handle both drought stress and saturated conditions—critical for a residential landscape that must perform reliably with minimal intervention. The result is a landscape that requires less water, fertilizer, and replacement plantings while providing more ecological services to the surrounding environment.
What emerges is a landscape that feels both familiar and renewed—honoring the mature canopy that residents already valued while introducing the color and seasonal rhythm they desired. The success of this approach lies not in dramatic transformation but in thoughtful enhancement, proving that meaningful landscape improvement can happen through careful addition rather than wholesale replacement. Today, residents move through a campus that offers genuine surprise and delight throughout the seasons, while the established trees continue to provide the shade and structure that make this community feel like home.