Gustafson was born and grew up inYakima, Washington in 1951,[1] her father was a general surgeon.[2] The basis of her designs comes from her memories of past settings. The region around Yakima is a desert-like plateau surrounded by mountains. At the age of 18, Gustafson attended theUniversity of Washington inSeattle, where she studiedapplied arts for about a year. She then moved toNew York City to attend theFashion Institute of Technology. After graduating from the Fashion Institute, Gustafson moved to Paris to be afashion designer. Gustafson turned to landscape design. She was educated at the Ecole Nationale Superieure du Paysage inVersailles, where she graduated in 1979.
She has become known for her creations of sculptural forms. Her work has been compared with the designs of landscape architectIsamu Noguchi.[1]
Gustafson is slated to recreate the area around theEiffel Tower for the Olympic games in 2024. The total cost of the overhaul would be 72€ million which would be funded by revenue.[3]
Gustafson Guthrie Nichol was established in Seattle and founded by Gustafson, Jennifer Guthrie, andShannon Nichol.
Gustafson Porter + Bowman, founded by Gustafson and Neil Porter in 1997, is situated in London. Since 2011, the firm has been based at1 Cobham Mews Studios.[4] The firm has international projects in the UK, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
