Team

Kate Orff

RLA, FASLA
Founding Principal, Partner
Gena Wirth

FASLA, RLA
Design Principal, Partner
Alexis C. Landes

Managing Principal, Partner
John Donnelly

RLA
Technical Principal, Partner
Pippa Brashear

RLA, WEDG
Resilience Principal, Partner
Brad Howe

RLA
Principal
Laura Marett

RLA, LEED AP
Principal
Lee Altman

AIA, LEED AP
Principal
Chris Barnes

RLA
Principal
Martin Harwood

RLA, ISA, LEED AP
Principal
Nans Voron

WEDG
Principal
Despo Thoma

AICP
Director of Resilience
Rosy Thakur

Director of Finance
Grace Dials

RLA
Director of Design Management
Kaleen Juarez

RLA, WEDG
Director
William Tietje

RLA, WEDG
Technical Director
Kate Hayes

RLA
Studio Director
Amanda Huhn

Director of Marketing
Jennifer Schecter

Director of Business Development
Will Klassen

Chief of Staff
Meghann Dubie

Senior Operations Manager
Todd Mead

RLA, LEED AP
Senior Technical Lead
Scott Goodrich

RLA
Senior Technical Lead
Linh Kim Pham

RLA
Senior Associate
Grace Prem

RLA, WEDG
Senior Associate
Sylvia Barnett

RLA
Senior Associate
Alaleh Rouhi

Senior Associate
Julia Howe

RLA
Senior Associate
Kal O’Leary

Senior Associate
Daniel Hernandez

RLA
Senior Associate
Greta Ruedisueli

RLA
Senior Associate
Shuang Shuang Wu

RLA
Senior Associate
Zi Gu

RLA, ASLA
Senior Associate
Tal Fuerst

WEDG
Senior Associate
John Rabago

RLA
Senior Associate
Arthur Pérez

Senior Associate
Rikerrious Geter

LEED Green
Associate
Kirk Gordon, RLA

Associate
Lindsey White

Associate

Danny Berdichevsky

RLA
Associate
Andrew Wright

RLA
Associate
Danny Rose

RLA
Associate
Jessica Arias

RLA, WEDG
Associate
Alyson Demskie

Associate

Gabrielle Rashleigh

Associate

Lena Smart

Associate

Nathalie Mitchell

Associate

Ciara Stein

Associate

Shira Grosman

RLA, WEDG
Associate
Aaron King

RLA, LEED GA
Associate
Grace Suthata Jiranuntarat

WEDG
Senior Designer
Xueyang Huang

WEDG
Senior Designer
Molly Davis

RLA, WEDG
Senior Designer
Joanne Li

RLA, WEDG
Senior Designer
Rodrigo Yárritu

Senior Designer

Peixuan Wu

RLA, WEDG
Senior Designer
Caroline Fitzpatrick

Senior Designer

Kelly Zhan

WEDG
Senior Designer
Quanjiang Li

Senior Designer

Bom Phituksithkasem

Senior Designer
Miles Hamaker

Senior Designer

Natalie Boverman

Senior Designer

Graham Davidson

Office & HR Manager

Hana Estice

Communications Manager
Erin Sheehy

Marketing Coordinator

Vaibhav Gurung

Designer

Robert L. Joseph

Design Coordinator

Olivia Canady

Studio Assistant, New York

Raka Mukherjee

Studio & Accounting Assistant, San Francisco

Kai Davis

Studio Assistant, New Orleans

Jessy Rojas Güere

WEDG
Designer
Max Eckhardt

RLA
Designer
Caz Gagné

Designer

Jonathan Boyce

WEDG
Designer
Chadwick Bowlin

Designer

Kate Gliniak

Designer

Candelaria Gassiebayle

WEDG
Designer
Jade Rhodes

Designer

Isabella Simões

Designer

Jenna Wu

WEDG
Designer
Olivia Reichert

Designer

Abigail MacPhee

Designer

Nick Gray

Designer

Yuqing Zhang

LEED GA
Designer

Yuehui Gong

Designer

Kate Orff

RLA, FASLA
Founding Principal, Partner

Kate practices architecture to address global challenges of climate change and social and environmental justice.

Kate Orff, RLA, FASLA, is the Founder of SCAPE. She focuses on retooling the practice of landscape architecture relative to the uncertainty of climate change and creating spaces to foster social life, which she has explored through publications, activism, research, and projects.

Widely recognized as a leading voice in landscape architecture, urban design, and climate adaptation in a global context, she is known for advancing complex, creative, and collaborative work that advances broad environmental and social prerogatives.

Among her many accolades, Kate became the first landscape architect to receive the MacArthur Foundation’s prestigious “genius” grant in 2017. In 2019, she was elevated to the ASLA Council of Fellows, accepted a National Design Award in Landscape Architecture from the Cooper Hewitt, and was named a “Hero of the Harbor” by the Waterfront Alliance.

In 2020, she was named Urbanist of the Year by The Architect’s Newspaper. In 2023, she was named to the TIME 100, the magazine’s annual list of the most influential people in the world.

Kate is the author of several books including Toward an Urban Ecology (Monacelli, 2016), co-author, with photographer Richard Misrach, of Petrochemical America (Aperture, 2012), and a contributor to All We Can Save (Penguin Random House, 2020), a bestselling anthology of women climate leaders. She has been profiled extensively for publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, National Geographic, and many more.

Kate graduated with a Bachelor’s in Political and Social Thought from the University of Virginia with Distinction and earned a Master’s in Landscape Architecture from the Graduate School of Design (GSD) at Harvard University.

She is currently the Director of the Urban Design Program, Co-Director of the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes (CRCL), and Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). She also sits on the Commission on Accelerating Climate Action for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as the Advisory Board for Urban Ocean Lab, a policy think tank.

Read Jeanne Gang’s tribute to Kate in the TIME 100.

Read Eric Klinenberg’s profile of Kate and SCAPE in The New Yorker.

Watch Kate’s interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on the value of natural infrastructure.

Credentials

Landscape Architect: New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, South Carolina, Minnesota, Arkansas, Virginia, Indiana

CLARB Certified

Accomplishments

Academic

Director, Master of Architecture and Urban Design Program, 

Columbia University GSAPP

Co-Director, Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes (CRCL), 

Columbia University GSAPP

Professor
Columbia University GSAPP

Distinction

MacArthur Fellow, 2017
USA Artist Fellow, 2012
American Academy of Arts and Letters
Award in Architecture, 2015
Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture, 2024

Board & Advisory Roles

Advisor, Urban Ocean Lab

Member, Commission on Accelerating Climate Action, 
American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Contributor, Committee on Infrastructure, Climate & Sustainability
NYC Mayoral Transition Team for Eric Adams

Additional honors include:

Urbanist of the Year
The Architect’s Newspaper, 2020

ASLA Council of Fellows, 2019

National Design Award
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2019

Waterfront Alliance
Hero of the Harbor, 2019

ASLA Professional Awards, Honor Award – Communications
Toward An Urban Ecology, 2017

Buckminster Fuller Challenge Winner 2014

Rebuild by Design, Winning Team
Living Breakwaters, 2014

“Most Creative People”
Fast Company, 2014

National Academician 2013

“Emerging Voice”
Architectural League of New York, 2012

Team Leader
MoMA “Rising Currents” Exhibit, 2010

Publications

“Toward an Urban Ecology”
(Monacelli Press, 2016)

“Petrochemical America”
(Aperture, 2012)

“Gateways: Visions for an Urban National Park”
(Princeton Architectural Press, 2011)