HWS Cleveland Visiting Guest Critics & Lecture Program

Jessie is a co-founder of SOFT STUDIO, a plant-focused landscape practice based in Oakland, California. Soft Studio was founded on the premise that the practice of landscape architecture must reflect the values we hold as designers and as people, and that it should also remain a joyful and exploratory endeavor. The studio’s work emphasizes botanical diversity, seasonality, and an integration with the broader ecosystem at the site level. Jessie received her Bachelor of Science in Conservation and Resource Studies from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard GSD.

Clementine co-founded SOFT STUDIO based in Oakland California, to research, design and build projects driven by curiosity of plants. She focuses on bringing speculative and artful concepts into a constructible site design. Through her design work, Clementine explores landscape as metaphor, choreographing and curating the performative experience. She’s originally from South Korea, has traveled and lived across the globe. She holds a Master's in Landscape Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art.

Vita is a veteran non-profit administrator, educator, writer, and artist. Her experience spans heading regional literacy programs, teaching as a literacy specialist, and educational film and television. She holds an M.S.Ed from the Bank Street College of Education in New York City and a B.F.A from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. Vita publishes with Quarto Group and Magic Cat in the UK, and Candlewick Press in the US. Her recent feminist fairy tale retellings “High Five to the Hero" & "Power to the Princess” were celebrated as "brilliant" by Kirkus Reviews. Together with her husband Artist Ethan Murrow, Vita is the co-creator of Two Murrows Productions and the short film "Dust," (official selection in the 46th annual New York Film Festival). Their children’s book debut, “The Whale”, was nominated for a CILIP Greenway Medal. Their recent title “Zero Local has been nominated for a 2021 ALSC Notable Children's Book award.

Education
Master of Architecture, Urban Design MIT, 1973
Bachelor of Architecture, University of Utah, 1971

Registration
Registered Architect: Massachusetts and NCARB certification

Experience
Principal, Imai, Keller, Moore Architects, Watertown, MA since 1988
Associate, Ellenzweig and Associates, Cambridge, MA: 1974 to 1988

Teaching
MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning (City Design Studio)
Boston University Department of Urban Affairs (Site Planning)
Boston Architectural College (Undergraduate Studio)

Anne Godfrey's research examines photography's influence on the understanding, valuation and design of landscapes.  Godfrey's Active Landscape Photography is the first book dedicated entirely to critical discussion of the use of photography within the practice of landscape architecture (Routledge, 2020). Her second book in this series, on methodologies for photography in landscape architecture, will follow in 2022.

Godfrey’s students are recognized for their design and innovation in areas of energy production, water quality and food security.  Most recently two student teams from SUNY-ESF “Solar Orbs” and “Soundscape” were short listed for LAGI 2018.  In 2016 “Cetacea” won second place for LAGI-Santa Monica.  In 2015 “Living Filtration System” won the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge.  Student’s work in these areas have been published in Landscape Architecture Magazine, The Guardian, Smithsonian, Fast Company, and featured in LAGI’s annual publication since 2013.

Recognized for her excellence in teaching, DesignIntelligence named Godfrey a Most Admired Educator in 2014. She received the 2018 Distinguished Academic Practitioner Award from the New York Upstate ASLA. She was awarded for her mentorship of female students by Oregon ASLA in 2016. Godfrey is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and has been teaching within the discipline for 15 years.

Rosetta S. Elkin is Principal of RSE Landscape, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, and Faculty Associate at the Harvard Arnold Arboretum. Her research and teaching consider living environments with a particular focus on plant morphology, behavior, and intelligence. Current projects include the study of root systems in coastal defense strategies, an investigation of state-scale ecological transformation in Rhode Island, and design research for sea-level adaptation on barrier islands in Florida. RSE Landscape is also currently working on a commission from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation concerning landscape adaptation on Captiva Island, Florida, and a Harvard Climate Change Fund-supported project that documents climate-induced retreat case studies worldwide. She is committed to design as a means to address the risk, injustice, and instability brought about by planetary climate disintegration. 

In this way, Elkin’s pedagogy attends to biological complexity as a neglected aspect of ecosystem integrity and recover while her practice prioritizes public exhibitions, open access publishing, and collaborative research to promote a more thoughtful and accountable design agenda. She recently published “Tiny Taxonomy: The Role of Individual Plants in Landscape Architecture” (Actar), was the recipient of the 2018 Garden Club of America Rome Prize in landscape architecture and is currently showing her work at V&A in London and La Galleria Nazionale, Roma. 

For twenty years, Hadley Arnold has focused on water security as an essential driver for progressive architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design in the face of climate change. Recognizing a need to build capacity for water literacy in the design schools, design professions, and the public imagination, she co-founded the Arid Lands Institute, a design-centered research, teaching, and outreach center, in 2008. Formerly housed at Woodbury University, ALI has been independent since 2016.

ALI has  collaborated with university design programs, NGOs, public agencies, and the design professions in 30 states and around the world. ALI’s work has been supported by grants from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Holcim Foundation, City of LA Mayor’s Office for Great Streets, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Metabolic Studio., and private foundations. Hadley formed and led the 2015-2017 AIA  College of Fellows Latrobe Research Prize team, testing new approaches to the design of water resilience in drylands.

With her ALI co-founder and partner, Peter Arnold, Hadley launched a clean tech start-up, DiviningLab LLC, bringing digital tools for water security to designers, planners, and communities worldwide. DiviningLAB build’s the world’s highest resolution groundwater recharge models, guiding cities on where best to make the fastest, cheapest, and most critical investments in distributed green infrastructures. DiviningLab’s purpose is to optimize urban surfaces for the capture and storage of safe, reliable, low-carbon water supply, globally.

Hadley earned her bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and a Master’s in Architecture from SCI-Arc. She has taught at UCLA, SCI-Arc, and Woodbury schools of architecture, and has lectured extensively.

Kristi Cheramie is an associate professor and the chair of undergraduate studies in landscape architecture at the Knowlton School. Her research employs alternate practices of spatial history to explore erasure, loss and forgetting as powerful agents of change in the landscape. Using speculation as a tool to reconstruct the historical systems, scales, and materials that comprise a landscape, she looks to design to reveal the interconnections between story, memory, ground, and time. Her work, largely based in fieldwork, tracks patterns of adaptability and transformation in the landscape, with a particular focus on efforts aimed at mitigating or eliminating change. 

Cheramie’s research and teaching have been recognized by, published in and presented at a range of internationally recognized venues. Most recently, she received the 2016-2017 Prince Charitable Trusts/Kate Lancaster Brewster Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture from the American Academy in Rome where she examined erased ecologies in and around the Colosseum. Her ongoing work on the flood landscapes of the Lower Mississippi River Basin has been the subject of winning competition entries, articles, exhibitions. In 2011, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Cheramie led an interdisciplinary team in the documentation of Louisiana coastal communities compromised by land loss, sea level rise and competing industrial interests. More recently, Cheramie led one of three winning teams in Future Ground, an international design competition hosted by the Van Alen Institute.  Her interdisciplinary team developed long-range, flexible design and policy strategies for vacant land in New Orleans and Lima, Ohio, transforming long-abandoned landscapes into resources for the current and future city. Cheramie is currently finishing a book on the urban ecologies of Rome, forthcoming from Routledge in 2019.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree from University of Virginia and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Alpa Nawre is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at University of Florida, College of Design, Construction and Planning and Partner at her design practice, Alpa Nawre Design. Issues pertinent to the design of urban water infrastructure, and resource challenges in the context of rapidly urbanizing developing countries inform her research, teaching and practice. Her writings have been published as books chapters and in journals such as Landscape Journal, Journal of Landscape Architecture, India and JoLA.

Her current research focuses on the land-water edges of ponds (or talaab in Hindi), rivers (ghat) and canals in India. The multifunctional use and adaptability of these culturally embedded landscape systems builds a compelling argument for rethinking the design of rigid, mono-functional and culturally disconnected contemporary urban water infrastructure throughout the world. She is the recipient of the inaugural Mellon Fellowship in Urban Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC.

Alpa holds a post-professional Masters degree in Urban Design from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University, and a Bachelor in Architecture from NIT, Raipur, India. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) and on the Alumni Advisory Board of Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, LSU. Alpa is a licensed landscape architect in Kansas, a licensed architect in India, and a LEED AP, and has worked internationally in design offices in India, USA, UAE and Switzerland.

Charles Cross, ASLA, is the Director of Landscape Architecture at the Detroit Collaborative Design Center; as well as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture. His work encompasses a wide range of park, green infrastructure and community design projects that incorporate civic engagement and participatory design. Embracing the principles of social justice and sustainability, Charles maintains a firm belief that underserved communities deserve good design, and therefore should be the patrons powering a collaborative process-not just the consumers of the end product. He is the recipient of the 2018 Fulbright-Hays Award.

Jamie is an assistant professor in landscape architecture at Cornell University. Her work explores the merger of design and science. She is interested in "strong" sites that push back at the designer via constructive/destructive processes and disturbance regimes, immersion in the material and fieldwork intensive design processes. Her current research develops a "thick description" of the Susquehanna Watershed through the study of fracking, hydropower, and flood-prone communities. 

Mayur Mehta is a landscape project manager at Snøhetta in New York. He has worked on several large scale public space projects including the Reconstruction of Times Square, the campus landscape for the Museo de Ciencias Ambientales at the University of Guadalajara, the design for the new campus quad at San Mateo Community College in San Bruno, CA and Plaza Euskadi in Bilbao. He is a regular guest critic at design schools on the east coast including University of Pennsylvania, Penn State University and Columbia University. Through his work he is interested in developing design solutions that synthesize the performative and experiential qualities of landscape design – he believes that robust, functional design and meaningful experiences are not mutually exclusive. Mayur received his Master of Architecture from Yale University in 2006 and is a licensed architect in New York state.

Qing Lana Luo is a Landscape Architecture faculty member at Oklahoma State University. Before joining the academic position, she had been practicing landscape architectural design in leadership roles in international design firms for seventeen years in Boston, MA and Beijing, China. She has worked for prestigious international firms including EDSA, CRJA and TurenScape. She has designed a wide range of outdoor environment, including urban parks, plazas, streetscapes, residential landscapes, historic restoration, etc. Her projects are located broadly in the world including the US, South America, Middle East, Europe, and China. Qing’s work has been recognized with many international, national, and regional awards.

Trained as an ecologist and landscape architect, Tao is active in the arena of ecological design, striving to bridge the gap between practice and science. As well as being mindful and invested in creative expression, he seeks inspiration from science and always roots his design in deep understanding of the project’s socio-ecological system. He believes in designed spaces that are holistic in both aesthetics and functionality. Tao is an integral part of Sasaki's strong international presence and has led and contributed to a number of award-winning projects.

Tao is a strong advocate for critical thinking and independent research to invigorate the profession. He has led research initiatives and collaborated with academic institutes on topics including post-occupancy metrics and environmental health.

Tao has published in peer-reviewed journals and speaks frequently at conferences around the world. Besides practice, he has taught landscape architecture at Rhode Island School of Design and has been a visiting studio critic at Harvard Graduate School of Design, MIT, Northeastern University and Boston Architectural College. He holds a Master of Landscape Architecture and a Master of Science in Sustainable Systems from University of Michigan, and degrees in Landscape Ecology and Nature Resources from Fudan University in Shanghai. 

Victor is a landscape and urban designer with James Corner Field Operations. Victor has a strong interest in digital methodologies and their applications in urban design and public space. He has used these skills to develop models and visualizations for projects including the Presidio Tunnel Tops and the Doha Cultural District. Previously, Victor was a designer on several projects including the High Line, Dachong Mixed-Use Development, and the ICEBERGS exhibit at the National Building Museum. 

Prior to joining Field Operations Victor worked with Mikyoung Kim Design in Boston and was an intern at Agence Ter.

Victor received his Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is fluent in Polish and English.

Nina is a registered landscape architect, urban designer and founding Principal of Merritt Chase, a Pittsburgh-based landscape architecture, and urban design firm. Prior to Merritt Chase, she was Senior Project Manager at Riverlife in Pittsburgh, PA, and an Associate at Sasaki in Boston, MA. Nina has significant, award-winning experience leading innovative design projects. While at Sasaki, Nina worked on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, the Strip District Riverfront Park in Pittsburgh, PA. and Sasaki's award-winning temporary pop-up park, The Lawn on D. Nina also led Sasaki's Sea Change: Boston research initiative and was a key member of Sasaki's HUD-funded Rebuild by Design team.  Recently, her mobile pop-up park concept, Kit of Parks, was named a winner of the 2016 KaBOOM! Play Everywhere Challenge.

Khyati is trained as an architect and landscape architect with a passion for interests that lie at the intersection of media, geography, and public space. Born and brought up in New Delhi, India, she is a careful observer particularly attuned to the role of media and culture on landscape and public space dynamics.

Khyati has practiced in New York City with the New York Department of Parks and Recreation where she conducted research on storm resiliency. She is currently a project manager at Future Green Studio and leads residential, mixed-use, and public space projects of varying sizes. Her portfolio of work includes the Brooklyn Children's Museum, Whitman-Walker Health, and Admirals Row in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In Fall 2016, Khyati was nominated to represent Future Green Studio in the national ‘Xtreme LA Challenge - a creative design challenge for the Design Leaders of Tomorrow’ at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, VA.

In addition to her work at Future Green, Khyati is also a co-founder of Bil-Kul, an international design practice working at scales ranging from the domestic to the regional. Her work has been recognized and exhibited globally, including an honorable mention for the Babyn Yar Necropolis International Competition in Kiev, Ukraine and her in-residence appointment as the 2017 Metro Manila Civic Innovation Fellow in Manila, Philippines.  Khyati is also a freelance writer and researcher, having written for publications such as CLOG and Metropolis Magazine.

Khyati earned a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Architecture from Sushant School of Art and Architecture in New Delhi. She is licensed to practice architecture in India.

Charles Cross, ASLA, is the Director of Landscape Architecture at the Detroit Collaborative Design Center; as well as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture. He serves as the Faculty Advisor to the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students and is a member of the Black Landscape Architects Network. Charles holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from Western Michigan University, a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture and a Master of Urban Design degree from The City College of New York. His past experience in the public sector includes the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resource and Conservation Service and the State of Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Charles has worked in the private sector for SmithGroup-JJR (Johnson Johnson and Roy), Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architects and Artist Mary Miss.

Charles completed work on the Detroit Future City Strategic Framework Plan and a 1.4 million dollar park in Detroit’s Denby Neighborhood that will act as catalysts for renewed investment in the community. He also has conducted research on cultural assets as they relate to the Detroit River and its role in the Underground Railroad. Last November, Charles completed work as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and is part of the team receiving the American Institute of Architects Whitney M. Young Award.

With a deep commitment to social justice and public Interest design, Charles maintains a firm belief that underserved communities deserve good design, and therefore should be the patrons driving a collaborative process-not just the consumers of the end product. 

Misa Inoue is a landscape architect in Chicago, Illinois, with project experiences ranging from small courtyards to large public/corporate/university/health care campuses. She formerly held a visiting academic position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has served on design juries at the Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota, and Osaka Prefecture University.

Dynamic, open-ended spaces are key to Misako’s concept of urban landscape design. “I love seeing how people use their cities, how they adapt and reimagine public spaces. Because cities are so dense, spatial flexibility is very important.” She has Master's degrees in Architecture and Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Cornell University.