SSA Landscape Architects, Inc. is located in Santa Cruz, California, concentrating on public works projects such as recreation facilities, parks, schools, habitat restoration landscapes, municipal facilities, corporate and private projects, and streetscapes. Established in 1988, SSA is a corporation of the State of California. Currently, we have a staff of ten. SSA is fully equipped with AutoCAD work stations, enabling us to provide the most accurate documents possible, while being compatible with most A&E design firms and surveyors. As the President and Principal in Charge of SSA, Steve Sutherland has been in the landscape architecture and construction industry for over twenty-five years focusing on the design of budget sensitive, practical, maintainable, environmentally sensitive, and water-conserving landscapes for public and private use.

In the past three years, SSA has been responsible for designing and administrating the construction of over 80 public projects including: schools, sports facilities, parks, trails, habitat restoration, streetscapes, shopping centers, universities, and many joint-use facilities between school districts, cities, and counties.

From this experience, SSA has developed a sense of the manner in which different types of uses and users interface. The results are functional facilities maximizing available space and meeting the unique and detailed needs of a wide variety of groups, as well as being aesthetically pleasing. We believe it is not enough for a firm specializing in public design and master planning to have a strong background, sense of design and excellent capabilities in construction documentation and administration to be successful. It must also have the ability to listen with respect and understanding to the needs and desires of the users, agencies and the client and the differences within. The philosophy at SSA is to listen first, then develop consensus, all before beginning design work. This coupled with our strengths in evaluating, cost estimating and budget control, schedule development and management, design, construction documentation and administration, is what makes SSA successful.

We are dedicated to working with private clients, corporations, public agencies, cities, counties, parks and recreation, districts, and universities to develop projects having positive impacts on community, the environment, and education. In addition, SSA strives to incorporate the concepts of sustainability both in society and in the environment.