SCASLA Achievement Award
The judges highlighted the project’s strong research and analysis, with clear concepts and diagrams that were easy to understand. The evocative “Woven Basket” theme and precedent images brought a strong sense of place, while creative ideas like the tower walk stood out, even if they felt grand in scale. The sections and visuals were compelling, and the narrative showed thoughtful intent. Overall, a beautifully presented project with strong vision and creativity.
This project realigns a creek through an empty, contaminated parcel within Point Pinole Regional Shoreline and connects the creek to a restored marsh by using Engineering with Nature® design concepts. Together with creek restoration, the project improves access, use, and enjoyment of the Shoreline by using Play for All and A Pattern Language design principles.
About
Kristin Byrd
I am a landscape ecologist with a background in wetland science, plant ecology, and geospatial technologies. I received a Ph.D. in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from U.C. Berkeley in 2005, and I have worked at the U.S. Geological Survey in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2009. At USGS, I have led research projects on wetland bird habitats, ecosystem services, climate impacts and carbon sequestration around California, Puget Sound, and the Gulf Coast.
I believe that landscape architecture is central to building nature-based solutions on the coast, since it brings together people, nature, art and engineering, and creates the vision for what is possible. I am very excited to move into this new chapter where I hope to combine my science and now design backgrounds on projects that use nature-based solutions to solve challenging problems on the coast and elsewhere. In my spare time I like to be outdoors either hiking, camping, paddleboarding or running, or meeting up with a plein air painting group to sketch or paint something in nature. I live in San Mateo, CA with my husband, our puppy, and our two sons (who are now away in college).