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Landscape Architecture

Category: Alumni

Green Futures Lab Students Win Climate Solutions Prize

Did you know that UW Green Futures Lab Scan Design Interns won one of the two Climate Solutions prizes, as part of CBE’s Climate Solutions symposium this past spring?!  There were over 40 entries and Constantine Chrisafis’ (MLA/MUP ’25) posters describing our Designing the Climate Responsible City project and publication won the prize in the Communications category. The content and graphics included Erin Irby’s and Sarah Lukin’s (both MLA ’23) research and design from 2022-23, and added Constantine’s and Briana Weeke’s (MUP ’24) investigation and communications from this…

Alumni Spotlight: Yuqing Zhang (MLA ’21)

This month we are highlighting alumni Yuqing Zhang! Yuqing graduated from the MLA program in 2021. With an interest in historical preservation and community engagement, she loves to combine holistic understandings of the past and present to project landscapes into the future. She grew up in the historic core of Suzhou, China. Frequent visits with her family to the city’s traditional Chinese gardens inspired her to earn a BELA from Suzhou University of Science and Technology. While there she returned to the gardens each week to sketch, observing change over the course of the day and the year. Driven by her curiosity about the Western landscape, Yuqing earned her MLA, with an Urban Design Certificate, from the University of Washington. Her capstone study “Bridging the Blue and Green” received the WASLA Student Merit Award. After graduating, she gained experience at GGLO bringing a range of urban development and streetscape work from design to construction. Since joining Reed Hilderbrand in 2022, Yuqing has worked on the Franklin Park Action Plan and on several institutional projects across the country. She spends her free time getting to know Boston’s history and the many famous and unique green spaces in the area. Read more about Yuqing’s career in landscape architecture…

Alumni Spotlight: Carol Whipple (BLA ’83, FASLA)

This month we are highlighting alumni Carol Whipple! Carol (FASLA) graduated from the BLA program in 1983 and has worked on a number of projects that encompass historic preservation, restorations, new visitor facilities, and memorials. She worked for the National Park Service for 31 years and received the Presidential Design Award for successfully managing the design and construction of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. She was the project landscape architect for the White House under several Presidential administrations where she completed over 50 planning, design, and construction projects. She was elected as a Fellow of the ASLA in 2002 and has always strongly advocated for the landscape architecture profession and has served on numerous national committees of the ASLA and allied organizations. Now retired, Carol advocates for landscape architecture through involvement on local park advisory boards and as a lecturer to civic groups. Read more about Carol’s award-winning career in landscape architecture…

Alumni Spotlight: Craig Skipton ’03

This month we are highlighting Craig Skipton! He graduated from the MLA program in 2003 and currently works as the director of landscape architecture for Western Washington at AHBL. Craig is committed to diversifying what landscape architects do by engaging with people’s passions, finding new ways to bridge the gap between science and landscape architecture as well as improving educational environments through design. Craig and his wife also run a farm together called Heyday Farm on Bainbridge Island, which was completely designed and built by him! Read on to learn more of his story!

Alumni Spotlight: Biruk Belay BLA ’14

This month we are spotlighting landscape architect Biruk Belay (BLA, 2014). He currently lives in Seattle and works at Site Workshop.   UWLA: Could you outline your professional journey between graduation and today? BB: I graduated with a Bachelors in Landscape Architecture in 2014. During my final year of school, I was able to secure an internship at a firm here in Seattle. Soon after that, I had the opportunity to practice Landscape Architecture in Boston, Massachusetts where I spent…

Sherry Xu (MLA ’22) in Kubota Garden Foundation Newsletter

Meet Sherry Xu When I first entered Kubota Garden, I was struck by its unique and traditional Japanese landscape features. I wanted to know more about how such a beautiful Japanese garden was designed, built, developed, and maintained, so I decided to volunteer with the Kubota Garden Foundation. To learn more about Kubota Garden, I decided to participate in the “Tuesdays in the Garden” events first. During the weekly mulching and weeding activities, I was fortunate to meet many volunteers…

Mikyoung Kim Design, UW alums, Recipient of ASLA Firm of the Year Award

The American Society of Landscape Architects recently awarded Mikyoung Kim Design the Firm of the Year Award, the highest honor that the ASLA bestows on a landscape architecture firm. Congratulations to UW alums, Associate Principal Bryan Chou (CEP ‘ 02) and Associate Jess Hamilton (MLA ’17)!   Mikyoung Kim Press Release Boston, Massachusetts August 2, 2022 Mikyoung Kim Design is this year’s recipient of the Firm of the Year award from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) which is…

Alumni Feature

Jocine Velasco (MLA ’21), Rhys Coffee (MLA ’23), and Ken Yocom are working closely with the Burke Museum, the UW Native American Advisory Board, UW Grounds and Maintenance, and the design firm GGN to study the health and viability of a camas meadow recently designed and installed at the Burke Museum on the UW campus. The collaboration is working to develop interpretive strategies to communicate the importance of this habitat type in the Cascade region for indigeneous communities while also seeking to understand how the…