PRESS RELEASE Upland Design Ltd founding principals Michelle A. Kelly and Heath A. Wright are honored to announce the promotion of Senior Landscape Architects, Maria Blood and Elizabeth Dafoe, to equity partners and principals. Michelle Kelly shares, “2023 is the 25th anniversary of the firm-making this an amazing time to expand the leadership. Liz
Rain gardens have multiple benefits that can solve common drainage problems from a community playground to the edge of a parking lot. They are beneficial for our pollinator friends, and they are also good for preventing soil erosion. Rain gardens work by using deep-rooted plant species inside of a depressed bed that traps storm
Centennial Park, located at 155 E. St. Charles Road, was named in honor of the park districts 100th year anniversary (Giuliani,D.2021) It has been 30 years since the Elmhurst Park District established a new park and the neighborhood around the new park was part of a park desert, meaning prior to this space being
Public Engagement during COVID 2021 Energize and Innovate Your Input Process in the Time of COVID-19 and Beyond. Public engagement meetings are designed to share information and gather input from the community of future projects. What does the community want in a park or plaza? What are their concerns and why? Giving the community
Goodbye 2020 and Welcome 2021 There are so many things from 2020 that we all would like to leave behind. Masks? Social Distancing? And the whole darn Pandemic! What was a challenging year has also brought some leaps in our work including technology, Zoom, working from home and one of the most important: the
Upland Design’s Strategy To Get The Community Involved Upland Design has created engaging spaces for communities for the past 22 years. Our goal is to improve the quality of life by encouraging people to Go Outside. Community input is a vital step to the design process. So, how do we incorporate the collective mind
Swallow Cliff is a 100ft-high bluff that formed around 12,000 years ago from glacial action. Today it is best known by its 125 limestone stairs built in 1930 as part of a CCC project. The original limestone stairway is historic and allows visiting athletes to work out in a natural setting. Whether visitors take
On June 3rd, the Orland Park Nature Center celebrated its soft opening. Mayor Keith Pekau led the opening with the village’s Board of Trustees, Open Lands Commission, and Upland’s own Michelle Kelly, Liz Dafoe, and Heath Wright. Trustee Kathleen Fenton had the honor of cutting the red ribbon. The two-acre site will join Orland
Arbor Day 2018 marked the announcement of major changes to Illinois highways. The Illinois Tollway released a master plan to add 58,000 trees within the next three years. Upland Design plays a crucial role in the installation of these trees along the I-90 corridor. Upland's professional services provide Construction Management with two contracts. As
Last week, Upland team members Michelle, Maria and Liz visited playground equipment manufacturer Landscape Structures headquarters and factory in Delano, Minnesota. The Upland Design team accompanied Rick Bieterman from Nutoys Leisure Products and met with Pat Faust, President of Landscape Structures, and David Smith, Vice President of Sales to see what's new at LSI.
