Bio

Opt1Kendra Taylor is a registered Landscape Architect and Certified Arborist. After receiving her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in 1985, Kendra worked for seven years as an editor and literary agent in Washington DC and New York, during which time she completed a Master of Arts in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She returned to UVa in 1992 for a Master of Landscape Architecture. Since then she has worked with firms in San Francisco and New York, most recently as Director of Landscape Design at Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Kendra’s work has included public, corporate, institutional, resort, and high-end residential projects, which have been located in all regions of the United States as well as in France, Switzerland, Turkey, and Kazakhstan. She has published articles in art and design publications; served on design and awards juries; and was the first alternate for the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome in 1998. She has taught in the graduate Landscape Architecture program at UVa and teaches currently in the Landscape Design program at the University of Richmond. She volunteers with the Storefront for Community Design, a new Richmond non-profit. She founded Kendra Taylor & Associates in 2009.


Education:

  • Bachelor of Arts, Interdisciplinary Studies (Echols Scholar), University of Virginia, 1985
  • Master of Arts, English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, 1988
  • Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia, 1995

Professional Qualifications:

  • Registered Landscape Architect in Virginia, California, New York
  • Certified Arborist, International Society of Arboriculture

Relevant Employment:

  • Robert A.M. Stern Architects, New York, NY – Director of Landscape Design
  • Deborah Nevins & Associates, New York, NY – Landscape Architect
  • Peter Walker & Partners, Berkeley, CA – Landscape Architect
  • Hargreaves Associates, San Francisco, CA – Landscape Architect

Teaching and Related Activities:

  • Adjunct Faculty, University of Virginia Department of Landscape Architecture, Spring 2011
  • Adjunct Faculty, University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies Landscape Design Professional Certificate Program, Fall 2010
  • Awards Jury, Washington DC chapter of the American Institute of Architects “Washington Unbuilt”, Summer 2010
  • Team Leader, Landscapeforms Extreme LA Event, Fall 2008.
  • Design Juries, University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University
  • Instructor, Boston Architectural Center, Site Planning and Design, Fall 2002
  • Designed Landscape Forum Conference Committee, San Francisco, CA, November 1996 (international, interdisciplinary conference at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)

Relevant Publications:

  • Review of “Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau: The Cathedral of Erotic Misery”, Elizabeth Burns Gamard, ed.; “Kurt Schwitters: I is Style (Ich ist Stil; Ik is Stijl”); and “In the Beginning There Was Merz; From Kurt Schwitters to the Present Day”, Susanne Meyer-Buser and Karin Orchard, ed. Journal of Architectural Education, Fall 2002
  • Review of “Recovering Landscape”, James Corner, ed. Land Forum. Spring 2002
  • Review of “William Faulkner and the Tangible Past: The Architecture of Yoknapatawpha.” Design Book Review. Fall 1999
  • “Designing a Civic Center: The San Francisco Prize Competition,” Design Matters (a publication of the Architecture and Design Forum of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art). Vol. 4, No. 4. Fall 1997
  • “Prospect Green,” (with George Hargreaves), Garten + Landschaft, Munich, Germany. October 1996
  • Review of Lynne Coen show at P.P.O.W., ARTnews, October 1988
  • “Documents of Destruction,” Artweek, 1986

Honors:

  • First Alternate, Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome, Spring 1998
  • Stanley William Abbott Award, University of Virginia, May 1995