About

Studio Kongsgaard is a design practice known for methodological innovation. Our work responds to the spatial and systemic challenge of urban and environmental transformation as cities and regions adapt to climate change. We partner with land trusts, landscape conservancies, cities, and governments on projects that mediate across scales from the bioregion to the site-level. Our work is holistic, charting a coherent arc from research to design to implementation.

Approach

The studio integrates transdisciplinary expertise with civic engagement to design unique and enduring spaces. Scientific understandings of how places change over time guide our work. As landscapes evolve beyond their historic limits, the question of if, when, and how to best intervene is critical to effective management. In this regard, the conservation and preservation of landscapes deemed culturally or ecologically significant is a notable aspect of our design practice.

Leadership

Helen Kongsgaard leads the practice and typically serves as Principal Investigator for transdisciplinary research projects. Trained in design and within the emergent field of climate adaptation, she frames design problems that contend with the dynamics of cities and landscapes. Helen brings her experience leading consultation with public agencies to each project that the studio engages. She holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts from St. John’s College.

Services

Geospatial Analytics
Landscape Architecture
Conservation Strategy
Resource Stewardship
Scenario Planning
Urban Design

Contact

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KONGSGAARD / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Projects

Practice

STINSON BEACH ADAPTATION STRATEGY

Scenario Planning

Bolinas Lagoon, California (Planet, 2026)

Stinson Beach, California, sits on sandy spit shaped by waves into an embayment. The ancestral home of the Coast Miwok, the land was claimed in the Mexican land grant era. It later became a seasonal coastal retreat known as Willow Camp. As a settlement sprang up after San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake, the land was subdivided and built upon. Portions of the beach were set aside for public use, passing through county, state, and federal hands. A series of coastal storm events over the past half-century precipitated the construction of ever more permanent infrastructure. Today, Stinson Beach is a popular, white-sand swimming beach. It is also subject to episodic beach loss, arguably exacerbated by the frequency and magnitude of recent storm events. As sea levels rise, the town’s beachfront homes are among the most vulnerable in the county. This study puts the region’s urbanization into dialogue with its environmental dynamics. It informs a climate adaptation strategy grounded in an understanding of the site’s geomorphic formation and its performance under future conditions.

Location: Marin County, California
Site Area: 570 acres

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