014: Patrícia Akinaga: Impactful Landscape Architecture in the US and Brazil
On today’s episode of Architectette we welcome landscape architect Patrícia Akinaga. She is president of Patrícia Akinaga Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Environmental Planning in São Paulo, Brazil and, at the time of recording, she is a Principal at Studio MLA in San Francisco. That’s right- she successfully leads two firms in two distinct countries!
(Update per September 2023: Patrícia is now the Director of Global Practice at Martha Schwartz and Partners in New York, supporting NY, London, and Shanghai offices in addition to still running her own practice in São Paulo.)
Patrícia has a Bachelor of arts in Architecture and Urbanism, Master in Landscape Architecture, and PhD in Ecological Urbanism and Environmental Planning. Her work includes public spaces across 4 continents and encompasses masterplans, parks, campus planning, hospitality, green infrastructure, transportation planning, mixed-use developments and more.
We talk about:
Her advanced degrees and how she considers others’ degrees when hiring for entry level and mid-career roles
How her passion for what she does fuels the incredible amount of time and energy required to be a leader in the US and Brazil
Cultural and environmental differences
How ideas could be shared in more impactful way across communities
Patricia shares about some of her favorite projects
The political, economic, social, and health impacts of landscape architecture and how it has the power to transform communities
Links:
Connect with Patrícia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patriciaakinagaphd/
Patrícia's Practice in Brazil: https://patriciaakinaga.com.br/
Studio MLA: https://studio-mla.com/
Ecological Urbanism: https://www.archdaily.com/977930/what-is-ecological-urbanism
Martha Cross' Episode of Architectette: https://www.architectette.com/episodes/episode-002
American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA): https://www.asla.org/
Architectette Podcast Website: www.architectette.com
Connect with the pod on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12735000/), Instagram (@architectette), and TikTok (@architectette)
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Music by AlexGrohl from Pixabay.
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