Founded in 1989 by James Burnett, FASLA in Houston and led today by Burnett and his partners in five offices across the country, OJB values the human condition and the importance of community. The work affirms the public realm as our shared responsibility and a place for discovery, engagement, and change.

Transforming public spaces is central to our mission. The work weaves together ecology and play, celebrates discovery and delight in the landscape, and allows people to connect to the natural world in new ways. Our evidence-based approach to design respects natural ecologies and is an active learning model that continually informs our work. We strive for dynamic community input and feedback, and to express the special genus of each place.

OJB has been recognized with more than one hundred significant national and international awards for projects, including three ULI Open Space Awards, a global competition of the best public spaces. OJB is the recipient of the 2020 national design award in landscape architecture from the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian National Design Museum as well as the 2015 firm award from the American Society of Landscape Architecture.