The existing lawn panel was an essential element in the plaza's overall composition and one of the few green spaces in the otherwise expansive hardscape. It also provided an open frontage to the impressive historic church building – with mature red oak trees and monolithic seating along Massachusetts Avenue.

Chris saw the lawn as an opportunity to solve a variety of issues. These included ADA accessibility to the church's administration building entrance, hiding sustainable stormwater infrastructure (beneath the lawn), increasing opportunities for passive recreation, increasing porous surface area, and providing improved function for seating at its edges.

Without compromising the plaza's minimalist aesthetic, these matters are gracefully resolved by subtly tilting the lawn panel surface (at less than 1 in 50), extending the lawn towards the church, and integrating a new custom precast seating edge. The design also reinforces the plaza's geometric composition at the base of the church's grand stair. An existing circular lawn panel with four mature honey locust trees is also transformed into an elegant sunken garden. Custom seating with sustainable hardwood inlay and lighting are integrated at the sunken garden perimeter.