About
We set the scene.
You create the story.
David Eaton Associates is a small, close-working team of designers, landscape architects and architects creating landscapes and gardens of aesthetic sophistication and emotional resonance. Every decision is grounded in an acute sense of place. We never impose a preconceived style. Instead, we respond to the atmosphere and mood of each site, creating elegant landscapes that offer a rich, layered experience.
Approach — We follow an ethic of sustainability, seeking to increase the ecological diversity of every landscape we work in. We use local materials wherever we can, and choose plants suited to their surroundings that will endure over time. A garden should not control the narrative. It should be a place of imaginative possibility.
Collaboration — Good communication is vital to every project. It begins with a close connection to our clients and extends to long-standing relationships with the consultants, designers, contractors and craftspeople who bring a garden to life. Working closely with architects and interior designers, we make sure interior, architecture and garden are in harmony, so that materials, textures, forms and colors flow through a property and the house feels settled in its landscape.
Craft — We still rely on traditional methods of design, such as hand drawing and watercolor, while staying at the forefront of digital tools. Our 3D modeling in SketchUp, Lumion and 3ds Max lets clients see proposed forms with confidence during design development.
Process — Every project is different, but each begins the same way.
First conversation. We establish the site, the scope and explain our approach.
Site visit. We walk the property and listen closely to your ideas, inspiration and ambitions.
Site analysis. Architecture, history, layout, geography, aspect, intended uses and maintenance all inform the design.
Schematic design. Two presentations, refining the design with your comments and new ideas, toward an approved masterplan.
Design development. Details are developed into construction documents, which contractors use to bid and build.
Construction and aftercare. We visit at agreed intervals to inspect and advise on progress, lay out every plant on site before planting, and return after completion to ensure the garden is settling in as intended.
FOUNDER
David Eaton CMLI, PLA
David Eaton is an award-winning British landscape architect, designer and gardener, chartered in the UK and licensed in New York. Before founding David Eaton Associates in 2018, he worked with LDA Design in England, and with Deborah Nevins Associates and Miranda Brooks Landscape Design in New York. He managed the internationally acclaimed Stavros Niarchos Park and Cultural Center with Renzo Piano Building Workshop, and his residential work ranges from 200-acre country estates to New York penthouse terraces.
The son of a fifth-generation farmer, David grew up on a sustainable farmstead run by his mother, a keen organic gardener, and was given his own corner of the garden at the age of eight. That early grounding led to a dissertation on permaculture being published while he studied landscape architecture at the University of Central England. David received the School Book Prize, the school’s highest honor for studio work.
He has served as a juror for Columbia University’s Master’s in Landscape Design and as a studio critic at the New York School of Design, and supports the New York chapter of the ASLA. David is now based in England.
OUR GOAL
Places that bring people together.
Our ultimate goal is to create beautiful places that bring people closer together, where families can gather, and where the soulful, restorative qualities of plants are always close at hand.