Topher Delaney's work might be of interest to you.

www.tdelaney.com

some of the best 'scape firms in the country located in the bay area. what sort of projects are you offering??

I'd recommend different people for residential versus commercial, versus civic projects... and most of the good ones are tough to get. If you're only finding the conservative ones then you're looking in the wrong places.

if you're not looking for formal patterns of plantings what do you consider 'modern'? you want geometry? organic freeflowing blobs? self organizing native plantings? landscape urbanism? social justice? earthforms? superflat? legends? young punks?

Walter Hood

andrea cochran
www.acochran.com/

Walter Hood x2! He's the guy behind the incredible de Young Museum landscaping. (not literally)

Treekiller,

We're working on fairly urban multi-family residential. I don't really know how to characterize landscape architecture, but:

I like some of the progressive stuff i saw in Spain, with angular geometries and unique plantings.

Internationally, I like West8 and Schweingruber Zulauf and some of Petra Blaisse's work.

Locally, Ron Lutsko has some nice work, as does Trainor and Associates.

People who design formal geometries and mini-Versailles on every project bore me.

Given those thoughts, any other ideas for landscape in the Bay Area?

Thanks.

All the suggestion above are good. Don't waste your time with walter hood, don't think he's into housing and he's known to turn down lots of projects these days.

You can also talk to the corporates like hargreaves and SWA, they may be able to produce your 'european' look fairly easily compared to the smaller offices.

You can also issue an RFP via the local ASLA directory. Call a bunch of 'scapers up and interview them. If you want style ask for it, if you want collaboration make sure you say so too!