In the twelve years since Austin-based landscape architect Daniel Woodroffe founded his firm, dwg, it has become a leader in sustainable design and low-impact development.

The firm has worked on projects all over the world but has made a particularly deep impression on the landscape of its home city. One of dwg’s most remarkable years-long project finally came to fruition when in August of 2021 Waterloo Park, at 11 acres downtown Austin’s biggest greenspace, opened to the public. Daniel’s company served as the local landscape architect team for world-renowned landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh.

Waterloo Park is a gorgeous urban oasis that features a 1.5-mile hike-and-bike trail, sinuous bridges, expansive lawns and a 5,000-seat amphitheater that has quickly become a premier music venue. The park is also universally accessible with barrier-free design. What a casual visitor might not necessarily know or notice is that the park was created to reclaim an urban overflow creek that over the years had not only often flooded but become a dumping ground. Now, thanks to dwg’s work, the creek’s water has been harnessed with engineering finesse to allow a wide array of plants native to Austin’s ecology to flourish as well as benefit local birds and pollinators.

In this interview with Pier Carlo Talenti, Daniel explains how making urban spaces more sustainable and equitable is a recipe not only for economic dynamism but perhaps more importantly for good old-fashioned joy, an emotion he likes to cultivate in his offices as well.