2025 Fellows: Lisa Switkin, FASLA, New York Chapter

Field Operations, New York City, NY
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Lisa Switkin has spent over two decades masterfully shaping transformative public spaces that elevate both the field of landscape architecture and the human experience, primarily through her leadership on high-profile, complex urban projects. Recognized for her collaborative leadership style and creative approach to public engagement, her work weaves together community needs, environmental stewardship, and design excellence into spaces that become integral parts of the urban fabric. Her projects transform cities, creating vibrant social anchors that are highly site-specific and deeply rooted in place, history, and community, and inspire similar innovations worldwide. A partner at Field Operations, she also served as president of the Landscape Architecture Foundation and was a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. Since 2004 Lisa has guided the design of the much-lauded High Line, the now iconic 1.5-mile elevated railway that was reclaimed as a world renown public space on Manhattan's West Side. The innovative design is characterized by an intimate choreography of movement, with alternating vistas and experiences, and distinctive paving, planting, furnishing, lighting, and social spaces. Her work on the Domino Sugar Factory site in Brooklyn was inspired by extensive community input, resulting in the five-acre Domino Park reconnecting Williamsburg to the East River for the first time in 160 years. Thirty large-scale salvaged relics are incorporated into the design, showcasing the industrial past. Planted with native species, the park acts as a natural buffer and absorbent sponge. In the heart of Santa Monica, the six-acre Tongva Park is one of the first large-scale contemporary urban projects to highlight California native plants, featuring over 300 new trees and thousands of native plants, and was a trailblazer in climate-appropriate water use in public spaces.