Pronouns: he/him
Ben is a native Portlander, the youngest son of Chinese immigrants. He grew up in SE Portland and attended University of Oregon achieving a degree in Landscape Architecture. He worked for two firms in Portland before co-founding Nevue Ngan Associates in 1993. The firm made a transition to NNA Landscape Architecture in 2017 and focuses on projects creating public open spaces in park and urban settings, restoring natural areas, revitalizing urban main streets for multi-modal transportation goals and economic growth, and developing sustainable stormwater management infrastructure.
One project that stands out in Ben’s career is Portland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden, a classical Chinese garden designed and built in the Suzhou style. The idea of the garden began in the 1980’s when Portland began a sister city with Suzhou. Ben became involved with the project in the early 1990’s and helped orchestrate the design effort with the Suzhou Institute of Landscape Architectural Design (SILAD) and the local design team. It was this time that Ben met Sean Hogan who became instrumental in acquiring plants for the garden and working with the SILAD designers during the design and construction phases. It was quite an effort to get the garden ready for opening night, a special evening in Portland in September 2000. Ben is honored to be part of another dream to create a botanical garden for Portland.
Education: University of Oregon, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, 1977
Professional: Principal, NNA Landscape Architecture
Registration: Registered Landscape Architect No. 102, Oregon, 1982
Registered Landscape Architect No. 332, Washington, 1981
