by Anne Evans, Columbus Underground
Columbus-based Oakland Green Interiors has once again been awarded and recognized nationally for their biophilic plant designs. The company has left their mark all throughout the city and were recently awarded three awards at the International Plantscape Awards Gala held January 23, 2025 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. “These awards are the result of wonderful partnerships with members of the architecture and design community here in Columbus,” said Genevieve Mills, Director of Oakland Green Interiors. “We are beyond grateful for the opportunity to regularly create space-changing projects with our colleagues and to highlight Columbus as a creative and forward-thinking city.”
Oakland Green Interiors received International Plantscape Awards for these projects:
Gold Award for the Installation of Freestanding Containers at Tucci’s Italian Steakhouse
Gold Award for Installation of Littleton’s Market Patio Refresh
Silver Award for the Design of Green|House Short North
Tucci’s Atrium design also won Oakland Green Interiors a Silver Award in Interiorscape at this year’s gala by The Ohio Green Industry Association (OGIA) during the 52nd Annual Landscape Awards Program.
Both events recognize excellence and innovation in plant design, installation, and maintenance; evaluating projects for their creativity, craftsmanship, and impact.
The free-standing containers used in the plant design for Tucci’s Italian Steakhouse completely transformed the space. What was once an open air brick patio, then turned tented-in patio, has become a gorgeous permanent extension of the restaurant. Designed with a minimal plant palette with arching plants like Bird of Paradise, the atrium provides a lush dining experience designed to whisk you away, if only for a little while.
“Tucci’s was lovely before, but now it’s large and luxurious with the new space plus a murmuring fountain, serious plant life, hard surface floors…and soft chairs that wrap around and invite you to linger,” said Miriam Bowers Abbott in a 2024 review of the restaurant.
At Littleton’s Market, Oakland Green Interiors worked with a design by Realm Creative to transform a busy urban space into a mini-urban oasis of trees, shrubs, and colorful perennials.
The Green|House project in the Short North gave the team a chance to imagine designs that add nature to spaces that would normally be basic and sterile.
“Plants, real and replica, are present in almost every visual field in the common areas of this complex,” said Mills.
The design team used natural materials of wood, wicker, ceramic, bamboo, and stone in the container selection to reflect a material connection to nature. Combined with the plants, the overall effect allows visitors and tenants to find a moment of rejuvenation during their day.
With these award-winning designs, Oakland Green Interiors continues to push the boundaries of what biophilic design can do to bring nature into our spaces and elevate our built environments.
