Susannah Drake (born 1965) is a practicing architect and

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

who specializes in addressing contemporary social and environmental issues through design.

Background and education

Drake was born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, England in 1965, and holds

dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

for the United States and the United Kingdom. Drake earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

and

Master of Architecture The Master of Architecture (M.Arch. or MArch) is a graduate professional degree in architecture qualifying the graduate to move through the various stages of professional accreditation (internship, exams) that result in receiving a license. Ove ...

and Master of Landscape Architecture at

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urba ...

. She is both a practicing architect and a practicing landscape architect.

Career

Drake founded the

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

-based DLANDdstudio, an interdisciplinary landscape and architectural design firm, in 2005. The firm's focus is improving urban environoments through the incorporation of

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

. Drake herself is known for projects that address social issues and seek to limit the impacts of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, believing in the role of soft waterfronts, "in which the line between the water and the city is blurred, diffused, thickened." Under her leadership, DLANDstudio received significant recognition for its innovative designs and work, including the

Gowanus Canal The Gowanus Canal (originally known as Gowanus Creek) is a canal in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, on the westernmost portion of Long Island. Once a vital cargo transportation hub, the canal has seen decreasing use since the mid-20th ...

Sponge Park in Brooklyn, an EPA Superfund Site. Drake has also focused on improving the lived ecology of urban and campus environments. Her recent work with Argenta Commons Plaza in Little Rock, Arkansas gained praise for "striking a balance between art and nature," with forms reflecting the oxbow lakes that prominent in the North Little Rock Area. She has received generous funding for work in stormwater management, adaptive infrastructure, and mitigative park creation from the

Graham Foundation The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts is a 501(c)3 non-profit that "fosters the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. The Graham realize ...

, the

Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

, the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission, the

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (informally referred to as NYSDEC, DEC, EnCon or NYSENCON) is a department of New York state government. The department guides and regulates the conservation, improvement, and protecti ...

, and the

New York State Council on the Arts The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) serves to foster and advance the arts, culture, and creativity throughout New York State, according to its website. The goal of the council is to allow all New Yorkers to benefit from the contribution ...

. In addition to her professional pursuits, in 2019 she was appointed associate professor at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...

Program in Environmental Design. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Regional Plan Association and Clyfford Still Museum. She has also served as president and Trustee of the New York

ASLA Asla (Arabic: عسلة, from Arabic "Assel", lit. ''honey'') is a municipality in Naâma Province, Algeria. It is coextensive with the district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the loc ...

and as a Trustee of the

Van Alen Institute Van Alen Institute is a Brooklyn-based independent nonprofit architectural organization that works to create equitable cities through inclusive design. It is located at 303 Bond St in Gowanus, Brooklyn. History Van Alen Institute was founded in ...

. She is currently a peer advisor to the US Department of State Bureau of Overseas Operations.

Style

Drake's work focuses on creating sustainable and ecologically integrated landscapes that address environmental issues while improving urban life. Drake has also championed the concept of ecological corridors, inspired by the work of ecologist Richard T. T. Forman. Her firm applies this idea to urban infrastructure, such as the controversial

Brooklyn-Queens Expressway Interstate 278 (I-278) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in New Jersey and New York in the United States. The road runs from US Route 1/9 (US 1/9) in Linden, New Jersey, northeast to the Bruckner Interchange in the New Yor ...

. Drake's design for BQ Green involves capping a section of the BQE to create open space and recreational areas for the South Williamsburg community, addressing both environmental and social needs. In addition to her design work, Drake is an advocate for the economic benefits of ecological interventions in urban areas. She frequently uses economic data to demonstrate the long-term value of green infrastructure, such as the financial gains associated with tree planting for water management and air pollution control.

Major built works

Drake is most known for her interdisciplinary work addressing difficult problems of contemporary design. * QueensWay: linear park and greenway in Central

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

*Argenta Commons Plaza:

Little Rock, AR Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources Established in 1907, the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR) is the founding college of the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. The College focuses on tropical agriculture, food science Food science ( ...

at the

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

*College of Music IMIG Addition at the

* Gowanus Canal Sponge Park:

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

In 2021, she was selected as one of the three finalists to redevelop Philadelphia's

Benjamin Franklin Parkway Benjamin Franklin Parkway, commonly abbreviated to Ben Franklin Parkway and colloquially called the Parkway, is a boulevard that runs through the cultural heart of Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city as of 2020. The parkway is named ...

for pedestrian use.

Major publications

*Contributor: "A Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation" (Island Press 2021)"Coastal Urbanism: Designing the Future Waterfront" *Contributor: ''Nature and Cities'' (Lincoln Land Institute, 2016). " WPA 2.0: Beauty, Economics, and Politics in the Creation of Public Infrastructure" *"Elastic Landscape: Seeding Ecology in Public Space & Urban Infrastructure" was recently published in ''Infrastruktururbanismus''

Awards

Drake's Rising Currents project, a collaboration with ARO Architects, featured design strategies for urban waterfronts. The project was part of

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

's "A New Urban Ground" exhibition in 2010, and is a part of the museum's permanent collection. *Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Award Climate Resilience 2020 *New Practices New York award (2014) *National AIA Young Architects Award (2013) *Architectural League Emerging Voice (2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, Susannah Living people Dartmouth College alumni Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni American landscape architects American women architects American company founders American women company founders 1965 births 21st-century American women