Greg Smallenberg is a Founding Principal of PFS Studio (formerly Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg), a member of the Order of Canada, and a Fellow of both the Canadian and American Societies of Landscape Architecture—a distinction held by only a handful of professionals in North America. In 2018 his alma mater, the University of British Columbia, conferred to him the prestigious UBC Builders Award for distinguished service as a UBC alumnus.
Greg is a recognized leader in the fields of urban design and landscape architecture. He has extensive experience in large scale projects ranging from regional open space plans to highly detailed project implementation, and has either led or played a key role in many complex planning and urban design assignments. He has been responsible for numerous high-profile projects throughout Canada as well as in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
He was the lead landscape architect for the Vimy Memorial Restoration project in France; he undertook site planning and design for the Canadian Embassy in Rome, Italy; he developed a remedial Master Plan for the Canadian Mission in Port au Prince, Haiti after its devastating 2010 earthquake; he consulted with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and their British partners on a number of site-related issues concerning the Canadian Mission in Islamabad, Pakistan; and he assisted in resolving public realm/urban design issues surrounding the new Canadian Embassy in Paris, France. Most recently, Greg led the master planning for a new Embassy in Beijing, China and is currently advising the GAC on urban design in the pursuit of a new Embassy development in Mexico City, Mexico.
Greg played a critical role in directing operations for PFS Studio in Ottawa in the early 2000s, where he led or co-led a number of highly complex federal government projects such as the redevelopment of Confederation Square, the Central Experimental Farm Management Plan, the Rideau Hall Landscape Management Plan, the Parliament Hill Landscape Plan, and the 2006 Parliamentary Precinct Long Term Vision Plan.
Since his first China project in 1995, Greg has helped establish three PFS Studio affiliate offices in China—Shanghai, Ningbo and Guangzhou—where the focus has been on public and private large-scale assignments that have delivered better, more walkable, greener, and sustainable planning and design solutions in response to the enormous development challenges facing China. In Thailand, Greg developed conceptual master plans for two waterfront resorts. In Singapore, he played a central role in helping to develop the award-winning Punggol New Town Master Plan and, in Accra, Ghana, he led the open space planning component for a comprehensive community master plan for Greenbuild.
Greg retired in 2024