A well-designed landscape around a religious community’s home does something quiet and essential: it prepares people for what’s inside. The walk from the parking lot to the entrance, the courtyard between buildings, the memorial garden behind the sanctuary, the playground where children gather after services — these are not incidental spaces. They are part of the place's experience.

DG2 Design approaches religious landscape design with the same attention to meaning, detail, and community that we bring to every project — along with a particular sensitivity to the values, traditions, and stewardship principles that shape how religious communities relate to the land.

Religious communities hold a wide range of convictions about the natural world: as a gift to be stewarded, as a source of contemplation, as a setting for education and service. Whatever the tradition, we design with those convictions in mind.

That often means native plantings that honor the integrity of local ecosystems. It can mean a memorial garden or columbarium designed with the reverence those spaces deserve. It can mean a prayer garden or labyrinth that invites slow movement and quiet attention. It can mean a children’s natural play area that teaches young members of a congregation to observe and care for the living world around them.

DG2 Design continues to support Mastercard as implementation of the master plan moves forward — a relationship that reflects our commitment to long-term partnership rather than one-time project delivery.

Religious campuses are among the most programmatically complex landscapes we design. A single property may need to serve Sunday worship attendance of hundreds, mid-week small group gatherings, a school or daycare, a community food pantry, a cemetery, and a summer camp — often with a volunteer maintenance budget and a board of directors with strong opinions. We design for all of that: flexible spaces that adapt to multiple uses. These accessible pathways welcome every member of the congregation, regardless of age or mobility, with parking and circulation that work whether the lot is full or not.

ADA compliance is a minimum. Genuine accessibility — the kind that doesn’t make people feel accommodated as an exception but welcomed as members — is what we design for.

Religious communities often experience both significant joy and grief. Memorial gardens, columbaria, and spaces for quiet reflection require a different design sensibility than recreational or functional landscapes: one rooted in permanence, dignity, and care. We bring that sensibility to every project that calls for it, working closely with the community to ensure that the design reflects their specific traditions of remembrance and hope.

Many religious communities feel a strong calling toward environmental stewardship. Native plantings, rain gardens, permeable surfaces, and pollinator habitats are not just sustainable design strategies — for many of our clients, they are expressions of values. We design landscapes that embody those values in visible, tangible ways: spaces that invite members to notice what’s growing, to participate in the care of the grounds, and to experience the property as a living expression of their community’s commitments.

We also design for the practical realities of religious community budgets: phased implementation, low-maintenance plant palettes, infrastructure that volunteers can manage, and long-term plans that can be built over time as resources allow.