The Quercus Story
Planting the seed
I was that kid who used their Legos to make floor plans and spent as much of my childhood outside as my mother would allow. I tagged along beside my grandfather as he harvested wild mushrooms and boysenberries, pointing out various trees along the way. My early exposure to wetlands was wading through them in soggy sneakers to my favorite fishing spot. I experienced forest and riparian ecology by hunting for salamanders and crayfish in the woods and streams of the Pocono mountains. Some of the neighborhood parks where I grew up in Northern New Jersey were designed by the Olmsted firm. These early experiences captivated my imagination, shaped my relationship with natural and built environments and foreshadowed my future profession.
Taking Root
Eventually, those paths through the woods led me to study Landscape Architecture at Penn State, where I received an Honor Award for Excellence in the Study of Landscape Architecture. I then completed post-grad work at the University of Massachusetts teaching lab classes in Ornamental Horticulture and Small Property Design. I participated in groundbreaking classes in bioengineering and constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. This unique academic work proved invaluable in my early years working for an environmental consulting firm, where I was able to apply my education to stream bank stabilization and constructed wetlands projects. Eventually this experience afforded me the opportunity to join one of the Top 150 Civil Engineering firms in the country.
Branching Out
For years I worked alongside many talented professionals on various large-scale projects throughout New Jersey. I coordinated the landscape designs for the firm's Site Development Group including residential subdivisions, assisted living facilities, commercial complexes and industrial projects. This work became the professional foundation on which I could establish my own firm.
Founding Quercus Design Studio was a natural way to combine the enthusiasm of my early experiences with the expertise of my professional Landscape Architecture career.
Meet Team Q Leaf
Andrea Hopkin, LLA - Founder/Principal
Ms. Hopkin has been diligently serving her clients as a New Jersey licensed landscape architect for over twenty years. She pursues the art and science of landscape architecture with enthusiasm and creativity. Ms. Hopkin began practicing her craft with an environmental consulting firm specializing in wetland creation and habitat restoration. Consulting with large public utility companies and private developers, she collaborated with wetland ecologists and wildlife biologists on wetland mitigation sites, habitat restoration projects and reforestation projects. She later joined a large multi-disciplinary civil engineering firm greatly expanding her design experience in the private sector. This laid the foundation for Ms. Hopkin to establish her own Landscape Architecture firm, Quercus Design Services, LLC, applying her multi-disciplinary background and personal creativity to a wide variety of commercial, industrial, environmental and residential projects
Ms. Hopkin is passionate about balancing the aesthetic elements of design and the pragmatic functionality of space. An enthusiastic collaborator, she is frequently brought in as additional support on larger projects where her ability to “fill in the gaps” has provided invaluable service to both colleagues and clients alike. Her resourcefulness as a designer creates landscapes that are at once buildable, visually engaging, contextually appropriate and environmentally responsible. Her skill set includes site layout, master-planning, planting design, vehicular and pedestrian circulation, active and passive recreation facilities, lighting design, bio-retention systems, and public open space. She is also able to provide expertise in the areas of shade tree inventories, landscape installation supervision, regulatory plan reviews and punch lists.
In the commercial sector Ms. Hopkin is recognized for developing creative and effective design solutions for office parks, assisted living facilities, retail complexes, industrial sites and mixed-use developments. She has designed efficient and safe vehicular circulation including parking, loading and service access areas, dynamic and inviting outdoor spaces, landscape designs, recreational amenities as well as naturalized and effective visual buffers. Ms. Hopkin has implemented many of these designs in environmentally sensitive areas and on projects with budgetary or regulatory constraints.
Ms. Hopkin also has considerable residential site development design experience. She is able to work creatively and efficiently with challenging site geometry to optimize single family subdivision layouts as well as multi-family developments. She has designed golf course communities which integrate historic site features as well as themed gardens and active and passive recreational amenities.
Ms. Hopkin graduated from Penn State University where she was the recipient of the ASLA Honor Award. She went on to complete additional graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts studying bioengineering and teaching undergraduate design studios.
Life Beyond Landscape Architecture...
When she is not busy cultivating Quercus, Andrea can be found indulging her creative side. Her admiration for artisans who create useful and beautiful objects, combined with an affinity for getting her hands dirty led her to pursue pottery and woodworking as hobbies. She finds that these creative outlets offer both an immersive escape from the daily rigors of running a business, and also complement and enhance the creative aspect of her practice.
Andrea is also an avid participant in many outdoor activities, including, but not limited to, hiking, biking, kayaking, triathlon and just about anything that takes her into the woods or out on the water. Her love of all things outdoors was influential in pursuing a career in Landscape Architecture.