Reparative Ecologies of Return: Maryam Eskandari in The Plan Journal /May 11, 2026 by Studio MIIM

At MIIM Designs, we’re inspired by projects that expand how we think about ecology, infrastructure, and collective stewardship in urban environments.

Maryam Eskandari’s article, “Reparative Ecologies of Return: Rewilding the El Segundo Gateway,” published in The Plan Journal as part of the Fall 2025 issue The Nature of Cities, explores how landscape architecture can operate as a framework for ecological and cultural repair.

Situated between the Chevron Refinery and LAX, the project reimagines a constrained urban corridor as multispecies infrastructure — reconnecting hydrological systems, supporting the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly, and translating Tongva spatial knowledge into a contemporary civic landscape.

The work asks us to reconsider urban regeneration not as beautification alone, but as a long-term practice of reciprocity, memory, and care.

Read the full paper:
The Plan Journal Article

Learn more about the project:
Rewilding the El Segundo Gateway Project

What if restoring urban nature meant repairing histories, habitats, and relationships all at once? At MIIM, we’re inspired by projects that challenge conventional approaches to urban ecology and expand how we think about stewardship, infrastructure, and design justice. @miim_esk “Reparative Ecologies of Return: Rewilding the El Segundo Gateway” — featured in @theplanmag The Plan Journal’s Fall 2025 issue, The Nature of Cities — offers a vision for ecological and cultural repair through landscape architecture. Situated between the Chevron Refinery and @flylaxairport LAX, the project reimagines a constrained urban corridor as multispecies infrastructure: reconnecting hydrological systems, supporting the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly, and translating Tongva spatial knowledge into a contemporary civic landscape. The work asks us to reconsider what urban regeneration can mean — not simply beautification, but reciprocity, memory, and long-term care. Read the full paper: https://www.theplanjournal.com/article/reparative-ecologies-return-rewilding-el-segundo-gateway #urbanecology #rewilding #environmentaljustice

LANGUAGE. The whole projects summed up in a diagram.

MIIM Designs is currently seeking new members to join our architectural team. We are looking for talented and dedicated individuals to fill the positions outlined below. To be considered, please submit a cover letter, resume, portfolio, and a list of three references (including contact information and your relationship to each reference) as a single PDF file (maximum 20 MB) to Studio[at]miimdesigns.com. Be sure to include the appropriate subject line specified for each position. Your cover letter must clearly indicate your eligibility to work in the United States. Due to the high volume of applications, only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. We appreciate your understanding. #hiring https://www.miimdesigns.com/miim-news https://www.miimdesigns.com/contact

Regenerative Infrastructures | LAX | LA2028 | Phone Sketch #la2028 #la2028olympics #architecture #elsegundo #LosAngeles

Happy Holidays, from MIIM.

Sediment, not waste. Accumulation, not rupture. Our work is both manifesto and method: a living archive where material experiments settle into architecture shaped by care, continuity, and transformation. www.miimdesigns.com/blog/2025/12/17/soil-sediment-and-memory-dar-al-islam-hassan-fathy-and-the-architecture-of-layering #wip #sitevisit #diné #حسن_فتحی

Roaming in the desert. #sitevisit #WIP #diné. #حسن_فتحی

#WIP Tracing lines that once divided, now remembered; exploring the stories, journey, and echoes of the 1947 Partition. History is never static; it moves, folds, and reframes.

FALL EQUINOX Monday, September 22, 2025 11:19am PST At the meeting point of three seasons, #ArataIsozaki Fall/Spring bedroom hovers, both literally and conceptually, between enclosure and openness, between heaven and earth. The floor folds into a wall, then arches into a concrete vault, framing views of the desert beyond. Crafted in board-formed concrete, this structure is the most refined of the trio cultured, composed, and quietly dramatic. Artist #LawrenceWeiner painted words “OBSCURED HORIZON” curve across its rear wall in yellow and red, mirroring the architecture’s own folded geometry. A poetic interruption of space, where sky, land, and shelter converge. Thank you, Jerry. #arataisozaki #LawrenceWeiner #ArchitectureLovers #ConcretePoetry #DesertArchitecture #MinimalDesign #PavilionDesign #SeasonalArchitecture #Brutalism #SiteSpecificArt #architecturalphotography

#WIP We've been discussing about architecture as a living organism, part structure, part landscape, part story, that’s always in motion. Experimenting with porous materials because materials have memories, landscapes have rhythms, and communities have wisdom worth weaving into every project. Think of it - it being material - as less of a static object and more of a pulse, a living skin that filters light, collects shadow, and reveals its patterns across the day and the year.

There is a tradition here, cultivated by McCoy, by the salons of Pauline Schindler, by the MAK Center - @makcenter - itself. A tradition of slow work. Thinking work. Work that listens. That is where we belong. That is where we place ourselves. If this Reading Room is assembling a cartography of architectural thought in Los Angeles, let this be our mark: not a boundary, but a thread. One we are slowly weaving. One that insists on complexity. One that resists flattening. One that understands architecture not only as what we make, but how we move through the world - with one another, in care, in critique, and in translation. @loudpaper @allnightmenu @apogeegraphics.la @ateliereditions @deemjournal @marta.losangeles @inventorypress @semiotexte @xartistsbooks @miim_esk @mimizeiger @_miimdesigns

IN SUPPORT OF TRUJILLO ADOBE JOIN US at the TAMALE FESTIVAL 🫔 🫔 🫔 The Trujillo Adobe is more than just an old building—it is one of Riverside’s most enduring links to its early history. Built around 1862, this structure predates the city itself and stands as one of the oldest remaining buildings in the region. Officially recognized by the State of California in 1968 as a site of historical significance, the Adobe is a rare and irreplaceable piece of Southern California’s cultural fabric. This site tells layered stories of settlement, displacement, and resilience. In the 1840s, landowners in Alta California invited Spanish-speaking settlers—including individuals of Spanish, Mexican, and Native American descent—to inhabit lands in Rancho Jurupa and San Bernardino. Among them was Lorenzo Trujillo, a genízaro from Abiquiú, New Mexico—a Native American who was taken captive as a child and baptized into Spanish colonial society. Trujillo and the ten families he led established Agua Mansa and La Placita de los Trujillos, among the earliest non-native settlements along the Santa Ana River. Though floods in 1862 swept away much of the original communities, they rebuilt—and the home that Trujillo’s sons constructed still stands today. But time, and unchecked industrial growth, have brought it to the brink. PRESERVING THE TRUJILLO ADOBE IS ABOUT HONORING STORIES, STRUGGLES AND SURVIVAL. PROTECTING THIS SITE IS AN ACT OF STEWARDSHIP - FOR HISTORY, FOR CULTURE, AND FOR THE COMMUNITIES. @rivtamalefest @cityofriverside @riversideartmuseum @uscmhc @inlandia_institute

#eidmubarak #eidalfitr

LA Fires Recovery: How to Save Your Trees Did you know that you can preserve trees on your property after the LA fires? LA County and the Army Corps have issued tree waivers, allowing homeowners to protect their valuable trees. Here's what you need to know: 1. Act Fast: When contacted by contractors, communicate your decision to preserve trees through the "RIGHT of ENTRY PROCESS." 2. Submit Documentation: Send forms, waivers, diagrams, and lists of trees to be preserved to the Army Corp contractors, ideally before they call. 3. Get Help: Need assistance with diagrams or finding an arborist? MIIM Designs can help! Check LINK IN BIO helpful PDF and more information. Let's work together to restore our beautiful landscape! 🌳 #lafires #treepreservation #environmentalconservation #altadena #altadenastrong #saveourtrees #californiafires #ecofriendly #sustainableliving #climateaction #natureconservation #greenliving #urbanforestry #arborist #MIIMDesigns

UPDATE: Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends: We wanted to update you regarding where MIIM’s operation stands during the ongoing fires that are taking place across Los Angeles and Southern California. First, your companies’ health and welfare, as well as that of our community and staff, is a top priority for us. Prior to the pandemic, MIIM has had a robust technology platform that allowed us to provide seamless service to all clients anywhere, anytime. The MIIM Team met this morning and will continue to meet online to go through project goals, deadlines, and priorities. We continue to meet with all teams to ensure the proper flow of operation and information in order to meet deadlines. Our priority is to ensure as little disruption to your projects, as we can accommodate the safety from these fires that are spreading because of the Santa Ana winds. Employee safety and wellness is a top priority, and we have implemented a firm-wide response plan. We have protocols and safety measures for tragedies like these. Every employee has the support platform- BIM/communication - to resume work from home, until the state of emergency has been lifted. We intend to attend meetings via video, or phone calls; should an in-person meeting be required please let us know - but for the safety of your own health, the welfare of our first responders and clearance to access roads, we ask you to also stay indoors. That said, we respect that each employee has their own comfort level and we will allow them to act accordingly. In addition, we are so grateful to everyone. Thank you for your messages and calls to our office. The air is thick and the smoke from the fires is damaging to everyone's eyes, nose and throat. Climate change is real and we are living through it. We are sensitive to the uncertainty that everyone may be feeling and we are committed to getting through this period together. With respect, safety and health! Maryam + MIIM Team. @mutualaidla Mutual Aid of Los Angeles has put together a google sheet with available shelter and animal center information. #eatonfire #palisadesfire #hurstfire #stateofemergency

Manhattan Beach Restoration Project Collaboration: The Bay Foundation | The State Coastal Conservancy | Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors | Coastal Restoration Consultants | The City of Manhattan Beach Context The history of Manhattan Beach is one of dynamic change. In the late 1920ʼs, excess sand from Manhattan Beach was purchased from the Kuhn Brothers Construction Company. Across geomorphological time, the littoral flow along the Western Coast has widened Manhattan Beach in symbiosis with the development of the coastline. Aerial photos of the Pier, over the past one hundred years since the sand extraction, reveal that Manhattan Beach is widening. While this process of littoral flow will slow given reduced natural sediment nourishment, our proposal for a tapestry of microdunes and microcosms extending from tidal line to housing boundary, will harvest wind blow sand through fencing, erosion control fabric, and through rewilding planting, to initiate a new process of dunescaping. As the beach continues to grow both out and up we will harness the embodied energy of natural processes that work symbiotically with our design, to build a resilient foreshore in the wake of sea level rise. While the majority of the previous Manhattan Beach dune ecosystem lies buried beneath the cityʼs buildings and streets, the continued growth of the shoreline over the past 100 years seen by the gradual exposure of sand beneath the Pier, hints at the opportunities our design team will catalyse. Our team envisions a strong sensory narrative that engages the ephemerality of the seasons and cycles that have continued to remake the shoreline throughout time, including the growth of new territory seaward and new topography skyward. Through a four technique process: 1. Dune Nourishment, 2. Fencing & Fabric, 3. Planting & Rewilding, & 4. Runoff Capture; our design will generate a sensory spectacle of microcosms within an undulating microtopography of miniature sand dunes.

We are kicking off the spring season with #chaharshanbesoori and the Persian New Year #nowruz with exciting updates on the project that we are working on with @purplemuseum As we are working on the developing the project make sure to join in and celebrate the festivities: https://www.cdm.org/celebrate/community-celebrations/nowruz/ This event is part of a Museum-led three-year planning project to develop an exhibition and annual cultural event celebrating the holiday Nowruz. JUMPING OVER THE FIRE In the 16th and 17th centuries at the moment the Nowruz was called, there was huge commotion: Firecrackers, muskets and cannons were fired, and bands played music. Shouts of joy filled the air and wild rue (isfand) was sprinkled into the fire so that the air would smell pleasant. As early as a century ago, Nowruz was celebrated on the last Wednesday before the New Year by lighting bonfires. People would jump over these fires while saying “my yellowness to you and your redness to me.” This phrase symbolized the letting go of ailments (“my yellowness”) and the invitation to good health (“your redness to me”). @_miimdesigns @purplemuseum @beshkandance @nioshadanceacademy @iraniandiasporastudies @iranianstanfordalumni @stanfordpsa @allianceforiranianstudents @iranian.students.ca @parsequality

Flying into #LAX for #frieze and the #Oscars? Make sure to look out the window while on the @delta runway. #MIIMDesigns #WIP “Land locked at one of the prominent spaces of Southern California, El Segundo is one of the main cities that one witnesses upon their arrival. Filled with a rich historical context of a land that was previously owned by corn farmers, later turned into a refinery town, through Chevron. We ask ‘How do we want the future gateway, for the city of El Segundo, to be representative of the community? And, how do we create: Wayfinding, Community, and Ownership?’ We strongly believe that the combination of strategic planning, creative programming and thoughtful transformation of the site will bring a renewed sense of relevance to this gateway.” – Maryam Eskandari #MIIMDesigns #WIP @friezeofficial #friezla

"FILL IN THE MIDDLE" MIIM Designs has been collaborating with many policymakers, lawmakers and senators on the issue of lack of affordable housing, which has long been a problem for middle and low-income households. The primary goal over the last 7 years has been that California can, and should, look to innovative programs across the country for models to inform future policy efforts to address the state’s housing challenges. Using examples and case studies from religious institutions of the Middle East, Asia, and parts of Europe, the SB 4 and SB423 will allow for religious institutions and nonprofit colleges in California to turn their parking lots and other properties into low-income housing. Churches and colleges often face big hurdles trying to convert their surplus land and underutilized parking lots into housing because their land is not zoned for residential use. Proponents said the new law will serve as another tool to help build much-needed housing in the state. A recent study by the University of California, Berkeley, Terner Center for Housing Innovation estimated California religious and higher education campuses have more than 170,000 acres (68,797 hectares) of land that would be eligible under the bill. The law, signed by Gov. @gavinnewsom rezones land owned by nonprofit colleges and religious institutions, such as churches, mosques, and synagogues, to allow for affordable housing. Starting in 2024, they can bypass most local permitting and environmental review rules that can be costly and lengthy. The law is set to sunset in 2036. #MIIMDesigns #california #LosAngeles #sb #sb4 #sb423 #gavinnewsom

FROM TODAYS @fieldoffice_workshops Sayes Court John Evelyn FRS established his garden at Sayes Court in 1653. Over the next 30 years he laid out his innovative designs, bringing ideas from the Continent and plants from around the world, using the garden as a setting for his experiments and research. The garden was famous in his own day, and the texts which he wrote from his research. 200 years later, when John Evelyn’s garden had long since faded away, his descendant was concerned by the appalling living conditions in Industrial London. W J Evelyn decided to create a public park on the site of Sayes Court, to provide a place of beauty and fresh air for the people of Deptford in perpetuity. Through his discussions with Octavia Hill, this project at Sayes Court led to the formation of the National Trust. Only a portion of Sayes Court Park still exists: the remains of the manor house, the site of John Evelyn’s garden and the rest of the former Park now lie within the boundary of Convoys Wharf. The approaching development plans bring the opportunity to reclaim this land for the public, to create an experimental 21st Century garden and a cutting edge building to act as a centre of research, education and enterprise.